Old friendsreposted
by krage
Summary: This is basicly a Kai angst, it has been reposted. Please read and review. Kai is haunted by dreams of his past.rnrnExtractrn rnrn‘Why does everyone have to die?’ he asked the phoenix silently. His mind full of blood, screams, pain.
1. Default Chapter

Hundreds of lives rested on their shoulders, it was imperative that this mission should succeed.

In the darkness of the abbey stood two young boys and a girl. Not for many years had they been this close to freedom. They were standing right next to the rarely used door that would lead to their escape.

Months of planning had all been for this moment. The brown haired boy looked sadly at his companions. He himself could not escape with them. He had planned this, down to the last detail. Had led his two friends to the unused parts of the abbey. Where cobwebs clung to every surface and stained walls hid the mysteries of what might have happened here long ago.

Whatever had happened, it could not be any worse than what was happening in the used parts of the abbey.

Tears slid silently down his pale cheeks as he nodded a farewell to his friends of many years. He had to head back to ensure that no one at the abbey discovered their disappearance just yet. This was their only chance to stop what was going on at the abbey.

His two friends gazed back at him, faint flutters of a deep sadness and loss appeared on their usually emotionless faces. They knew their mission; they must go out of that door. From there it was only roughly a hundred metres until the cover of the nearby forest. They would keep on travelling until they came to people. From there they would contact Mr Dickenson, the director for the BBA. His yearly check on the abbey had been yesterday, so the odds are that he would still be in the country. He would help them to close down the abbey once they told him what terrors happened there.

Of course, the director's visit hadn't turned up anything. Boris was sneaky about that; he always shut off the lower levels saying that they were abandoned. He shut his more badly injured pupils down there as well, so that he didn't have to explain their wounds. The director had been suspicious but had had no proof.

The children could change that though, they were the proof. Their many scars from many senseless tortures spoke for themselves. They had witnessed events so horrible that even a grown man could be sent mad by the horrors that haunted their minds.

Suddenly the girl stepped forward and folded the crying boy into a deep hug. Her movements were stiff as if she was not used to displaying such affection. She was expecting her ninth birthday soon, although she didn't know when exactually. She only knew that it was summer, and her birthday was in summer. The two boys had been born in winter, so were a full six months older than her.

"I will miss you Jamie," she whispered to the boy before drawing back from his arms.

"And I you Kay" he answered, his voice slightly shaking. If this mission did not succeed then there was a very good chance that he would never see them again. Boris would never go lightly in their punishments; he had been known to go over the top before. Many a child had been dragged off by him to never return again.

Kay knew it too and she was afraid, she'd be an idiot not to be. Her long jet-black hair made her pale face seem even paler. Her wide blue green eyes shone fearfully from her childish face.

Jamie forced his tears to stop as the other boy stepped up to him. He always felt so weak when comparing himself to this boy. Even though they were the same ages, and the same heights the other boy seemed so much braver than he was.

Jamie took the slate haired boy's offered hand, grasping it in a sign of friendship.

"Take care of everyone for me, we'll come back for you and the others. Everything will turn out fine." The boy's crimson eyes glowed with sincerity, and determination. The confidence from his friend made Jamie feel a little better.

"I'll try my best Kai"

Kai nodded and without another word he walked to the door. He held out a hand to Kay, who after a last reassuring glance at Jamie. Slipped her hand into Kai's and headed out of the door and into the cold darkness of the night.

With a soft slam of the door, Jamie was left alone again. He shivered in the darkness, and then slipped away into the shadows to try and stop anyone from noticing Kai and Kay's absence.

Kay looked with disgust at the snow beneath her feet. She hated snow, hated the cold, hated Russia. Except, she did not hate her friends here.

Kai epically. A bond had formed between them that was so strong that sometimes it was like she knew what he was thinking and he knew what she was thinking. Sometimes even before she knew it herself.

Kai studied her with a glint of humour in his expression. He pointed to the line of trees that was around fifty metres away now. He tensed, preparing to run.

Kay understood, they had kept to the casting shadows of the abbey walls for long enough. They had to dash the remaining distance quickly in order to be free.

Kai ran fast across the snow, Kay joined him. Both were closing the distance quickly. Within a few seconds the trees loomed just ahead.

A look passed between the pair, they were going to make it. They were finally going to be free.

Suddenly a blinding pain spilt through Kai's shoulder and he faltered. He tripped, flying through the air until he landed in the snow, still too far from the trees.

He couldn't get up, blood poured from his shoulder to stain the pure white snow a filthy scarlet. Kay was yelling at him to move, but he couldn't. The bullet would hurt so much it was unbelievable.

He summoned all his strength to raise his head.

"Go" he said gruffly "Run!" he ordered. His burning crimson eyes met with Kay's worried aqua ones.

Kay gave a swift nod and turned toward to the forest. The look she gave him betrayed the fact that she suspected she would never see him again.

She had not gone two metres when a second shot rang out. The bullet penetrated her chest; she fell forward into the snow with a thud.

Dark crimson blood stained the snow around her. So much blood, her face was turned toward him and her eyes stared lifelessly into the distance. She was dead; she was dead because of him.

"KAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!"

* * *

A teenager sprang up from his bed panting. Sweat soaked his body, and terror shone from his crimson eyes.

"Just a memory" he told himself, trying to get his breathing to slow down. All he could see in the pitch black of the room was her face. How her eyes lit up when she gave a very rare smile, when she had been very young she had smiled a lot more. How she acted so grown up and childish at the same time. How she sat with him for hours when he was hurting, needing no words just the knowledge that she was there.

How all the life had been drained from her face when she had been shot. Her last words rang in his ears 'Please Kai, get up. We're almost there, Kai, please'.

Then she had ran, following his orders. Maybe if she hadn't run she wouldn't have been shot. She wouldn't have died.

He choked back a sob and drew his knees to his chest. She was dead because of him, and he didn't know what to do about it. He couldn't take it anymore, and he didn't know what to do about it.

It wasn't fair, nothing was fair. It hurt, this loss hurt even more than Boris's tortures and they hurt a lot. Even though it had been roughly six years ago, the pain was as fresh as the day he lost her.

"Kai?"

He raised his head to the voice, blinking as the bedside lamp was switched on casting light where there had previously only been darkness. His crimson eyes met amber ones; he'd forgotten that he shared a room with Ray.

Ray was shocked by the amount of pain held in that one look. Kai seemed so anguished and fragile, the demons in his nightmares still haunting him. Having shared a hotel room with Kai, he knew that the boy had been troubled by these nightmares ever since they had arrived in Russia for the tournament. That had been five nights ago, and so far it hadn't affected their progress. Although Kai had seemed a little distracted, he had trained them well and they were rising through the tournament nicely.

This time however it was different, all the other times he had gotten up to train or whatever else he did in the middle of the night. This time it looked as if he had given up. Ray hoped it wasn't some bad memory caused by being in Russia again. Although the odds are that it probably was. Ray braced himself and asked the oblivious question.

"Kai, are you alright?"

"I'm….I'm fine" Kai tried to regain some strength, to hide what he was feeling. But it's hard to do that when your best friends death keeps on repeating in your mind. He had forgotten his mission, even now when he was free and Boris and Volitaire were behind bars. He hadn't thought the countless children who he had set free from the abbey, almost by accident. What had happened to them?

"No, you're not Kai"

Kai shuddered involuntarily as Ray came over to perch on the end of his bed. He hugged his knees tighter to his chest, resting his head on them. He'd be able to stare anybody down in the morning, but right now in the darkness of the night the memories would not leave him alone. He felt like he was a little kid again, he hated the fact that Ray could see him at such a weak point.

"Did you have a nightmare?"

'Yes' Kai thought 'and they're still going through my head, all that blood'. Kai kept silent, not knowing what to say. It wouldn't change anything to tell Ray, she was dead. Telling Ray about her wouldn't bring her back.

"Please Kai, just tell me. If you tell me I promise I'll try and help in anyway possible." His amber eyes searched for Kai's crimson ones. When he met Kai's gaze he was startled to see the complete loss and lack of hope held in those usually fiery depths.

"You can't help" Kai said simply, his voice beginning to crack with untold emotion.

"Kai-" Ray started.

"No" Kai eyes held a glimpse of his former determination in them, and then it was gone. He lay back down in his bed, purposely facing his back toward Ray. He couldn't help, no one could.

"Just leave me alone" he ordered, his eyes glued to the wall.

Ray sighed gently and complied, climbing back into his own bed. He'd tried to help; hopefully Kai would let them in soon. He'd talk with the others tomorrow after their match.

Kai turned his gaze to Dranzer who he gripped protectively in his hand.

'Why does everyone have to die?' he asked the phoenix silently. His mind full of blood, screams, pain.

Dranzer glowed sadly in his palm; she didn't have an answer for that.

* * *

O.k I reposted this from a different title, cause I had problems updating the old one. Anyways, read and review plaese? 


	2. Back from the dead

The match that day had gone well, very well. The Bladebreakers had won their match today, and at the rate they were going it looked like they would win this tournament with no problem. It was the afternoon and the bladebreakers were celebrating with a huge lunch.

All with the exception of Kai of course, who had claimed that he wasn't hungry.

"Kai, are you sure you don't want anything to eat?"

"Ray" Kai said in a monotone voice. "You've asked me that five times already, I'm not hungry".

"How can you not be hungry?" Tyson asked his mouth still full of food.

Kai raised an eyebrow, his face registering disgust at the gruesome sight.

"Tyson does have a point Kai, you didn't have any breakfast either." Kenny continued talking while typing on his laptop at the same time. "The human body does have its limits you know, food is needed for life. You could be starving to death as we speak, it's not healthy."

"I'm just fine, besides it takes days to die from starvation. I'll eat when I'm hungry."

"At least tell us what's causing you to have freaky nightmares then" Max piped up, ignoring the option to be subtle.

"You told them!" Kai turned on Ray, who very bravely stared him back down.

"There are no secrets between friends Kai. We just want to help, now spill."

Kai looked around, suddenly realising that the seating arrangement meant that there was no escape. On one side of him was a wall; while on the other was Ray.

'Damn' he thought. 'They're all ganging up on me'.

He looked up, seeing that all the team were staring at him expectantly. "Its just a dream that's been bugging me" he said calmly, not wanting to explain it. Not wanting to see her eyes, the shot, and the blood.

"And" Ray encouraged, with his food done his full attention was now on Kai.

"What?"

"What's in it?" Max tried.

"In what?" Kai said trying to keep a smile off his face, if he kept them going for long enough maybe they'll just give up.

"The dream." There was clear annoyance in Ray's voice.

"Which dream?" Now Kai was going over the top, but he didn't want to talk about it. He had done this a lot when he was a small kid when he didn't want to answer a question. This was actually kind of fun.

"The dream you were just talking to us about" Max voiced, sounding as if he were crying to the heavens.

"That dream? Nothing much." Kai examined them all, so that was why he stopped playing this game so much. They all looked like they wanted to hurt him real bad. He hadn't had many people to wind up until the bladebreakers that wouldn't hesitate to beat him till the point of unconsciousness.

"If you guys are done we better head back to the hotel." He wouldn't admit it, but seeing them so angry with him made him feel uneasy somehow.

Ray growled, but he let him past. Then they all headed back, through the alleyways.

"You're going to have to tell us eventually Kai" Ray warned as he walked next to their leader.

"I know" Kai assured him. That was enough to calm the team down; thankfully the feeling of uneasiness went with their anger. For a minute there Kai had almost been afraid of them, they being angry at him had scared him deep down. Of course since he'd been brought up being used as a punching bag, it wasn't very surprising that he still felt wary of his teammates from time to time.

A heat from his pocket made him stop in his tracks. Seeing as the others had been following him they halted too.

Kai reached into the pocket and pulled out his blade. Dranzer glowed violently in his hand. He couldn't understand what she was trying to tell him.

"Hey what's up with Dranzer?" Max said curiously staring at the blade.

"I don't know" Kai answered sounding surprised.

At that moment a girl ran around the corner ahead as if she were being chased by someone. She skidded to an abrupt halt just in front of them, narrowly missing colliding with them. She just stared at them like they were from a different planet; she wasn't even out of breath.

"Um, can we help you?" Ray asked nervously, hoping that this wasn't some crazed fan girl.

The girl completely ignored him, and walked up to Kai as if the others didn't exist.

"Do you remember me Kai?" her voice sounded desperate, torn up and exhausted.

Kai looked at her, she seemed familiar. She was around his height, only a little bit shorter. Her trainers were so worn and torn up that it was impossible to tell what colour they originally had been; now they were just a dusty shade of grey.

Her jeans had faded in colour too and sported a rip on one of her knees and were practically shredded around her ankles, you could see that she wasn't wearing any socks. A baggy red t-shirt was worn under her ripped jean jacket. All her clothes bore mysterious stains that could be taken for blood. One of the arms of her jacket was ripped almost completely off.

Her age looked to be around fourteen. Her face was pale like Kai's. Her hair was one of the most shocking aspects of her; it was a coal black and had been cut short unevenly. It stuck up at odd angles, and appeared to be growing out of a strange hack job that had been done to it. The part that could be called a fringe flopped forward. Yet it did not cover her eyes that stared at him intensely as if he were her last hope.

They were a blue green in colour, and they flashed with emotion as he considered her. He knew those eyes.

"K…Kay?" he said slowly, his voice sounding so nervous and disbelieving.

"So that's who Kay is," Tyson said loudly, remembering what Ray had told them about Kai calling out Kay just before he woke up. Max firmly slapped Tyson around the head for being so rude and shushed him. Then the team got back to watching their team captain portray emotions that they had not thought he could express, all the while with Tyson sulkily rubbing his head.

The girl bit her lip nervously as she gave a small nod in answer to Kai's question.

"But I don't go by that name any more" she added, cautiously nearing Kai while analysing the changes in him.

"So you're Rage?" he asked as he unconsciously took a small step forward.

She nodded shyly, glad that he remembered her nickname. Her shoulders suddenly began shaking with suppressed emotion. It had been so long, she had gone through so much to be here at this moment.

"They…" she started, her voice shaking uncontrollably. "They told me that you had amnesia, that you wouldn't remember me."

"I did." He said simply, examining her face. She was hurting and he wanted to comfort her, but he couldn't remember how to. "But I got all my memories back recently."

"That sucks" Rage commented dryly.

"Yeah" he agreed with a half smile, this was his old friend all right. But that wasn't possible; he reached up his hand slowly to touch her cheek. His eyes widened slightly as his fingers felt the warm skin underneath them.

"Checking if I'm solid?" she inquired with a knowing smile.

"This isn't possible!" Kai stated angrily, his hand falling back against his side.

The others were taken aback by the sudden change of attitude on Kai's part. Kenny was using Dizzi to record the meeting as he felt he would need to decode it after. This was all so confusing, how did Kai know that girl?

"You're dead, I saw you die!" He turned his head to force away the tears that were threatening to come. His shoulders slumped slightly, as his mind reeled with all the conflicting memories.

Rage's look of confusion was replaced with one of understanding as the truth dawned on her. All this time she had been worried about Kai not remembering her. When in actual fact, the problem was that he did remember her. He remembered her being shot.

"Kai" she said softly reaching out to touch his arm. He flinched from her hand, and then raised his head to look at her. His crimson eyes were filled with doubt and confusion, he didn't know what to believe any more.

"Did you really think that a bullet could kill me?" her voice still shook slightly, even through her trembling smile. "Besides" she added "Tasmine would never let me die."

Kai gave an uncertain smile at the mention of her bitbeast. That sounded right, it kind of made sense now.

"You're really here?" he asked seriously, his mind only just beginning to digest this information.

"Yes Kai, I'm really here," she answered reassuringly. Before wrapping her arms around him possessively, quickly before she could change her mind. To see him again was the greatest moment of her life. She did not care for hugs much, but she still clung to him tight as if he might leave again at any time.

Kai's face was a picture of surprise, and then his eyes softened and he placed his hands gently on her back. He frowned slightly as he felt an odd texture on her jacket, he knew what it was. Dried blood, fresh blood appeared to be trying to escape through the material of her jacket as well. The movements of her left arm were stiff, and he felt a deep sorrow in his heart as he realised that she hadn't managed to escape from her torture when he had.

The sound of someone clearing their throat jerked him out of his train of thought. He looked up to see Ray and the other blader's staring at him amused. He gently backed away from the hug and considered their expressions. Half of him wanted to glare at them to make them quit staring, but he couldn't stop a very small but very genuine smile from spreading across his face.

Rage tilted her head, seeing them for the first time. "Is this your team?" she asked Kai curiously, her eyes wide with wonder.

Kai nodded, still unable to rid himself of the smile. If Volitaire or Boris could see him now they'd be shocked.

"This is Max, Tyson, Ray and the chief" each person gave a small wave or nod as they were introduced.

"Guys" Kai continued, with never heard before warmth to his voice. "This is Rage, she's a old friend."

Kai avoided the million questions sent his way and instead suggested that they head for the hotel. Since it was desperately cold outside the others readily agreed.

"So" Kai turned to Rage the smile gone from his face. "How badly are you hurt?"

Rage's eyes widened with surprise at him noticing, she composed herself before answering. "The usual" she replied quietly, her gaze fixed on the floor.

"I know what that means Rage" his stern expression faded as he offered her a hand.

She stared at him, confused. It was uncanny at how he could act so much the same, and yet so different at the same time.

"You come with us to the hotel, and I'll fix you up."

She brightened immediately at the offer; well it was more like an order in reality. Her eyes held so much hope that it was almost painful to look at.

"Alright" she confirmed, slipping her hand into his. She gave him an uncertain smile; this was just like when they were children.

"Well isn't this sweet."

The sinister voice ripped through their consciousness, making the teens raise their heads to see who had come out of the alley ahead of them. A man with the build of a bear stepped toward them, with a curious amount of grace in his step. He towered over the teenagers sneering at them. To make matters worse ten well-built men followed him, they looked very much like Biovolt's guards.

A flicker of fear over took Kai's expression, before he resumed his former emotionless mask. He stepped in front of Rage, subconsciously shielding the terrified girl from a man that they both hated and feared.

"Bathos" he hissed, speaking his opponent's name like it was something to be despised. His mind over flowed with memories of the abbeys most inventive torturer.

Kai realised that the men were coming closer; he turned around to his team to see that Kenny was already a fair distance behind him. But they were all just standing there, confused.

"Kenny!" He yelled to the youngest member "run and get help, quick!" he ordered. Kenny remained frozen for a moment, then swallowed nervously and ran.

The ten men rushed forward to try and stop him, but the bladebreakers seemed to have gained enough wits to put up a fight to make them think twice.

Tyson's kendo skills came in handy as he used a stick he had picked up to ward the guards away. Max was luckily high on sugar and was bouncing from guard to guard in an attempt to keep them busy. Ray had already dazed one guard and was fighting a second. While Kai was standing over an unconscious guard with a mildly proud look on his face.

Finally however, the five teenagers were no match for the ten guards. The numbers had been decreased at least, now there were only seven conscious guards. Kai had knocked two out. While the third surprisingly enough had been knocked unconscious by the joint effort of Tyson and Max. Max had distracted the guy by jumping on his head, when Tyson had come and bashed the guy's head in with his stick.

Tyson, Ray and Max were each being held by a guard. Bathos had ordered the remaining four guards to stand behind Kai and Rage. Blocking the route that Kenny had taken. Now the only way out was through Bathos, and by the way he was grinning at him that's how he liked it.

Kai stood stubbornly in front of Rage, his eyes glaring at Bathos as he neared. The slate haired teenager was barley able to suppress the shudder of utter revulsion and fear he felt when studying Bathos.

"I'm glad to see that you remember me Kai, it's been a while."

Kai growled in response, glancing at his captured friends quickly before returning his glare to Bathos.

"Let them go" he ordered, his crimson eyes flashing dangerously. "They have nothing to do with this."

"Nor do you Kai" Bathos answered reasonably "I just want my daughter back, no one else has to be involved."

* * *

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	3. When Kai says no, he means it

Kai's hands became fists as he felt Rage tremble behind his back. She must be more hurt than even he had guessed to cower like that. There was something more to it, her sprit seemed broken. He had broken her he realised, Bathos had broken her sprit. Kai had seen it happen before many times, but he had never thought it would happen to Rage. She always had been so strong when they were younger. Bathos had come close many times to making her give up, but Kai had always been there to reassure her that she needed to keep fighting.

**Flash Back **

"Kai, this is Bathos's private quarters. We can't go in there, do you know how much trouble we'll be in if he catches us?" The six year old red head sighed in exasperation as his Kai ignored his words.

"I've got to help her Tala, she's my friend" was the six year old slate haired child's answer. He reached up to turn the handle, the door creaked open slowly. Revealing a room scarier than on a horror movie. The walls and floor were stained with blood, some was dry and ancient. While other parts were more recent and still a gleaming liquid on the cold stone surfaces.

There was a metal table in the middle of the room, by a formidable looking chair with restraints on it. Both had bloodstains on them. On the table was placed a metal tray jam packed full of knives, needles and other equally sharp looking objects.

Kai walked past these horrors, not noticing that Tala hadn't followed him into the room. He was intent on only one purpose, finding her.

She was curled up by the metal counters, every inch of her seemed covered in the familiar crimson liquid that is blood. Her t-shirt was ripped ragged from where the whip had cut through it to slash at her flesh. And yet, when he knelt next to her crumpled form. She somehow summoned the strength to raise her head slightly and capture him in her weak gaze.

Her dry lips cracked as she forced them to form words. Her voice was clouded with pain, yet she made herself continue.

"Bathos was mad."

**End Flash Back**

"She's my friend" Kai reported firmly, determination blazing in his expression. "And your not taking her."

"Friend!" Bathos shouted angrily, marching toward them. "FRIEND!!?" Bathos yelled again as Kai realised that he couldn't back up any more. Rage was leaning against the wall, her face filled with pain, terror and a complete loss of hope.

The punch was so sudden that there was no chance of Kai's blocking it. He staggered back a few paces way from Rage. He could feel the area below his left eye begin to swell immediately. Coloured lights swam in front of his vision as he heard Bathos's thumping footsteps near him again. At least if Bathos focused on him, he wouldn't hurt Rage yet.

"You have no friends!" he yelled at him as Kai somehow managed to block the stronger man's next punch. Bathos simply threw another punch, which connected harshly with Kai's chest.

"Did you learn nothing from the abbey?!" he bellowed at the gasping youth. "Did I teach you nothing?"

"Nothing worthwhile" Kai answered calmly. The next fist hit him square in the jaw, bringing a metallic taste to his mouth. He gingerly rubbed the stinging blood from his lips, his eyes still fixed on the angry Bathos.

To Kai this was a game, not a fun one though but a necessary one. This game had two rules. The first was to keep Bathos's attention off of Rage. Just till the police came, Kenny better be getting them. The second rule was also very important, that was to stay on his feet. He knew from experience that if he fell then he would be at the mercy of Bathos's steel tipped boots. Then he wouldn't be able to help anyone, not even himself.

Kai shot a nervous glance between Rage and Bathos, as Bathos seemed about to turn around to see the girl. Rage appeared to be having trouble breathing, and from the way she was holding her ribs. Kai could safely guess that a couple were broken.

"Why do you hurt her Bathos?" Kai asked as Bathos made his way over to the one he called his daughter. When the towering man drew back his hand to strike the girl, the volume in Kai's voice increased.

"Let me guess" Kai near shouted in a voice overflowing with sarcasm. "Your _mammy_ didn't take you to the park when you were little, and so now you take out all your _issues_ by beating up kids. Is that it Bathos?"

Unknown to Kai, his desperate outburst had been too uncomfortably close to the truth for the ruthless man to handle. So while Kai was relieved that Bathos immediately forgot about Rage. The bloodthirsty look he gave Kai as he charged at him was nothing to celebrate about.

'Shit, this is really gonna hurt.' Was all he had time to think before the raging torrent of fists hit him. He tried to block as many hits as possible, and even tried to throw a few of his own. Sadly, it was already obvious beforehand who the winner would be. Bathos was superior in size, strength, skill and experience.

Kai almost lost his footing more than once. Bathos seemed to favour hitting his stomach and head. Kai staggered back, his vision spinning as he by pure determination and some miracle managed to keep his footing. He'd been hurt worse than this before, he told himself smirking in a superior fashion to Bathos.

"And you call me pathetic" Kai drawled out, his speech slurred by his bruised jaw.

"You are" was the insane man's answer as he ploughed through Kai's weakening defence. "And worthless and weak" why wouldn't the boy just collapse already, so that he could leave.

As soon as Bathos glanced in Rage's direction, Kai started again.

"What does that make you I wonder" he smirked readying himself for the next blow. Only…it didn't come.

Bathos laughed at Kai's puzzled expression. "I know what you're doing Kai, you're distracting me from Rage. But that trick won't work anymore."

He walked purposely over to Rage, only to be stopped by Kai running in front of him.

"I won't let you hurt her anymore!" Kai announced, only to be dealt a binding blow to the temple that finally knocked him to the ground.

He pushed himself immediately to his feet again; the pain that tore at his bruised muscles from doing this was ignored. It wasn't important, although the way the ground seemed to be spinning around him didn't help matters.

Bathos was wrestling with a struggling Rage. The scared girl actually appeared to be getting the better of him, until a violent punch to her stomach made her pause. A resounding crack assaulted his ears, indicating that a rib had just been broken. She stopped struggling, momentarily paralysed by the pain.

Bathos was thrown back a few feet by an unexpected assault from a figure he had failed to see coming. When he recovered himself, Kai was standing in front of Rage again. The teen had used the few minutes where Bathos had been distracted to draw Dranzer. Kai aimed the blade at Bathos's head, the look on his face showing that he was very willing to shoot it. Bathos had gone too far, he had hurt Rage too much.

"She doesn't want to go with you" Kai said through gritted teeth. "Now let us and my team members go before I decide to rearrange your face."

Kai was fully capable of doing Bathos great injury with his blade. He had seen enough at the abbey to know what damage could be done to a person by a something as simple as a beyblade. Bathos knew it too, which was why he stayed where he was. A trace of doubt appeared on his expression, something that Kai had never seen on his face before.

"She's my daughter, I raised her. Of course she wants to come with me, right?" Bathos directed the last question to Rage.

The raven-haired girl moved from behind Kai, slowly so that she could see the man addressing her. She used Kai to ensure that she remained on her feet. Kai turned his head to catch her gaze for the briefest of seconds before returning his attention to his enemy.

That glance gave her enough confidence to answer. Her words were spoken so low that Bathos demanded that she speak up.

"I don't want to go with you," she said meeting his shocked gaze with her wary one. Her voice rose, speaking again before he could reply. "I want to stay with Kai".

She stepped back slightly, dropping her gaze to the floor as if she had suddenly realised who she was talking to.

"Why you little-" Bathos started before the sound of police sirens in the distance halted his next words.

"Your times running out Bathos. I suggest you leave now, while you still can." Kai smirked, blood trailing from his lips.

Bathos clearly could not believe what was happening. "But" he said confused at not getting his own way. He began to panic as he realised that most of the guards had fled. Only the unconscious ones and the three holding Kai's teammates were left. The noise of the sirens grew as the cars came closer.

"Leave us be Bathos" Rage said firmly, making Bathos look at her again. She was standing by Kai's side and aiming her blade at Bathos. It was a dangerous looking thing, all black with articulate red patterns on it. Her face no longer betrayed any emotions or pain. Even though she was standing in such a straight position that it must be hurting her. Only Kai who knew Rage's ways and could feel how much she was really leaning on him knew how much she was still hurting.

"You heard her Bathos. Now if there is a single shred of decency in that black soul of yours then you'll let her and us go." Kai's voice was calm, hiding the anger that blazed in his eyes very well. "Now leave," he growled, his fiery eyes flashing.

"And don't ever come back" Rage added without missing a beat.

The sirens were deafening, and voices could now be heard above the wailing noise. A familiar high-pitched voice caught Kai's ears more than the others. 'Well done Kenny' he thought, not breaking his glare with Bathos.

With a last snarl of frustration, Bathos backed away from the two teenagers. The remaining three conscious guards dropped their captives and joined him in running down a nearby alley.

* * *

"You can drop the act now Rage" Kai said lowering his blade and pocketing it along with the ripcord and launcher. 

She turned to him for a moment, examining his masked expression. "Thank god" she whispered before slumping to the ground. Her emotionless mask lifted to reveal pain, but above all exhaustion.

Kai knelt stiffly beside her as Ray, Tyson and Max rushed up. Policemen and medics could finally be seen being lead through the alleys toward them by none other than Kenny.

"How is she?" Ray asked as the other two opened and closed their mouths like fishes staring at them both.

"How badly are you hurt?" Kai said quietly to the girl who was sitting leaning against a wall. He wiped the blood from his mouth as he waited for an answer. He felt strangely calm, even though Rage was clearly very badly hurt.

Rage coughed into her hands before answering. The palms of her hands and her chin turned a scarlet colour. "….The….usual" she wheezed with a weak attempt at a smile.

Kai expertly traced a gentle hand over her rib cage as the medics approached.

"She's got five broken ribs" Kai told them, while eyeing them suspiciously as they manoeuvred her onto a stretcher. "One of them has punctured a lung."

The medics nodded and left with the half conscious girl. Policemen started to question the boys as to what happened, they also dragged away the abandoned guards. A stretcher arrived for Kai, but he stubbornly refused.

"I'm fine," he growled, walking toward the ambulance that was about to leave with Rage. He quickly jumped through the doors before they were closed. The other bladebreakers would have to make their own way to the hospital.

* * *

Anyhow, I had a nice christmas. Please read and review, I would say that I might not write on this story for a while. But I keep on proving myself wrong on that, so I'm not saying anything like that. I will continue with this, I don't think I would be able to not to. The main question is when. 

If you feel confused by anything in this fic. Please tell me so that i can make sure i explain it at some point. C ya.


	4. Hidden fears

"Please Kai just calm down."

Kai merely struggled more violently in the doctor's grip. Infuriated that this total stranger was not only calling him by his first name, but also acting as if this guy was much more mature than Kai. He was acting as if he could be trusted but he hadn't yet proved that to Kai. So he shouldn't be acting like that.

"No, I have to see her" Why wouldn't they just listen. It had been literally hours since they had taken Rage away. Now this doctor guy just waltzes into the check up room where Kai had been told to wait. And he wouldn't give him the slightest useful information about her, only that she was stable.

In fact if anything it was the doctor who was asking Kai for information about Rage. Kai's teammates were just staring at him like he'd gone crazy or something. He needed to see Rage, to make sure that she was all right. Then this doctor person, a doctor Giles according to his name badge. Says that he wants to give Kai a check up, whatever that meant. It sure didn't mean anything good when he was at the abbey. When the doctors there said check up, they really meant needles and pain.

"Have to make sure she's OK" Kai growled, trying once again to get off the medical table. Every time he tried he always seemed to get pushed back on. His feet weren't reaching the floor, so it was hard to gain a foothold to help him. Was he even saying proper words anymore? He had lost track of what he was saying a while back. Why wouldn't anyone listen to him? Didn't they know that that creep Bathos could show up any minute? Its not like the security at the hospital was very challenging or anything.

"Why?"

Kai stopped struggling abruptly, startled that Ray could get so close to him without him noticing. The doctor stood back to regain his composure, and Ray took over by placing his hands firmly on Kai's shoulders to make sure he wouldn't try to get away again. His amber eyes stared right into his crimson ones.

Kai glared at him warily, he felt so awkward with someone so close to him. But Ray was his friend he wouldn't hurt him, right? So, why was he feeling so afraid then?

"Kai, why do you have make sure she's OK?" Ray asked. His voice was calm and his grip wasn't too tight, almost like he knew that Kai wasn't going to fight him. Kai couldn't fight him; he was his friend he had to trust him like they were always telling him to.

Kai stared at him confused for a minute, before he remembered what he had said. The reasons Kai had to protect her were so many; all were hidden in the dark depths of his past. Of their past, in that abbey. There was one reason that stood out beyond all the others though.

"Because I promised," Kai blurted out before he could stop himself. Feeling ashamed, he turned his gaze to stare at the suddenly very interesting floor.

"I don't want to break my promise again," he whispered so quietly that only Ray heard him. In reality he was talking to himself, he didn't want to admit it but he had lost a bit of his valued self-control with these people wanting to be in such close proximity of him. It made him uncomfortable, afraid even. Although he didn't allow that fact to show on his face.

He hated hospitals for good reason. They had had medical rooms in the abbey, the exact same rooms as the scientists carried out their painful experiments. The problem was that the scientists were the same people as the doctors. The rooms were the same, the lack of painkillers were the same. The screaming that travelled down the winding hallways of the abbey were the same.

You could never tell whether what they injected into you was antibiotics or a newly developed serum that would keep you up all night with a fever so bad that you felt you were burning from the inside out. Rage, she hated hospitals almost as much as he did and she was on her own here somewhere.

He felt someone squeeze his shoulder reassuringly. He looked up at Ray and realised that he had allowed his emotionless mask to fall for a second. Ray had seen a hint of all the emotions fighting inside of him and had been worried. Kai forced the dark thoughts to the back of his mind, and retrieved his usual calm.

The doctor, now fully recovered from his disagreement stepped forward to be the adult in this situation. The angry glares from Kai certainly weren't helping his job much though.

"Kai, if you just remove your shirt then I can inspect your wounds. Then I promise I'll take you to see your friend."

Ray stepped back, leaving Kai to the mercy of doctor Giles. Kai felt a tiny twinge of fear go off inside of him, he had trusted Ray but he didn't trust this doctor. He ignored the urge to run out of this foul smelling room. He wouldn't allow himself to lose his control in front of his team again. He frowned at the doctor, while pulling his legs toward himself. So that he was sitting cross-legged on the cool metal examining table.

"I'm fine," he said cautiously knowing that his words wouldn't convince him. The offer of seeing Rage was tempting, but he didn't want to take his shirt off. He had gotten away this long without showing his team the reason he always had his top half covered. It was the reason he didn't go swimming with them, because wearing a t-shirt in the water would raise too many questions.

"Please Kai" the doctor tried again, why did he always call him by his first name. If it was supposed to have a calming effect, it wasn't working. It just made Kai more on edge than before.

"I'll be quick, but Mr Dickinson insisted that you have a check up. The quicker it's over with, the quicker you get to see your friend." Giles talked to him like Kai was a small child, and Giles was tempting him with the promise of a lollypop afterwards.

Kai sighed; this guy was really getting on his nerves. Almost as much as Tyson, and that was saying something. He frowned when he saw that Ray was actually finding it amusing watching him get wound up. A smile was pulling at the neko-jin's lips, even though he was fighting to suppress it.

At least if he got it over with, then he could see Rage. Make sure that she was all right; make sure that he kept his promise this time. Kai looked at the floor again as he unwound his scarf, placing it next to him on the table. Then he removed his shirt, exposing his hidden scars to the air. He placed the shirt by the scarf, aware of the eerie silence that had fallen in the room.

He chanced a glance at his team. Ray wasn't smiling anymore, none of them were. He turned his head away, not able to meet their eyes. He just stared uncomfortably into space, waiting for it to be over. The bruises from the fight with Bathos were scarce and insignificant compared with what had caught all their stares, the scars from his past.

"Kai, how did you get these?" Kai suppressed a shudder as the doctor moved behind him. He was examining the slash like scars on his back, there were many of them. They covered his back from the base of his neck right down to disappear under the top of his trousers.

"I had a…active childhood" Kai replied in a monotone. He couldn't help but shiver as Giles traced a finger over some of the more vivid scars. Kai lowered his head slightly, trying to remain in a calm mood. No one was going to hurt him, his friends trusted this doctor so he should too. Still, he couldn't stop his shoulders tensing at the touch. He hated people touching him.

"Kai, these are whip marks," the doctor said, moving around to face him. "And these" he said pointing at the marred looking patches of skin on his chest. "Are burn marks, and these are stab wounds" he continued, gesturing at the scar tissue that spoilt his otherwise well defined chest.

"And this if I'm not very much mistaken is a bullet wound" the doctor gasped, examining Kai's right shoulder. Kai covered his shoulder instinctively; his eyes were hard and cold. That scar brought back his need to see Rage full force. When he had thought her dead, that scar had been the reminder that had always stayed with him. Even when he had forgotten where he had got it from.

"If you're finished gawking," Kai said in a voice overflowing with sarcasm. "Can I see Rage now?"

"Yes, of course" Doctor Giles said, while anxiously scribbling down notes on his clipboard. Kai didn't like to think of what Mr Dickinson would say when Doctor Giles told him how the check-up went.

"You seem to have only suffered some bruising, which should heal up fine in about a week. Your friend is in room 414, just out the door and to your left."

"Oh" the doctor added as Kai pulled his shirt back on again and began retying his scarf. "The police would like to talk to you and her soon about the man who tried to take your friend. They'll arrange when its best to talk to you through Mr Dickinson."

Kai nodded and exited the room, turning left, as the doctor had said. After a moment of hesitation, the rest of the blade breakers followed.

"Yo Kai!" Tyson yelled catching up with him. "Why didn't you just tell us about….well, you know" he trailed off, still shocked at what he had seen.

"You never asked" Kai replied, not taking his attention off the task of finding the room. It was a long hallway.

"Well it's not exactually something that you ask about, is it Kai?" Max argued. "Is this why you always refuse to go swimming with us?"

Silence followed his question. "You could have just told us Kai" Max continued sadly "We would have understood."

"Kai" Ray said quietly walking beside him. "Scars like that take years to make, that means that you must of just been a kid when…" Ray drew a deep breath and asked the question he really wanted to say.

"Are they from the abbey?"

"Quit while you're ahead Ray" Kai warned. This feline like blader was just too curious for his own good.

Ray gave a small nod. "I have another question I want to ask" Ray said getting no response from Kai.

"Why do you call her Rage?" he asked, his head tilted slightly in a curious puppy look.

"If you're ever unlucky enough to see her angry, then you'll understand." Was Kai's vague answer.

Ray frowned, and was about to ask for a clearer explanation when they heard a crash. A nurse flew out of a door ahead of them, hitting the wall opposite with a loud thump. She looked around groggily with her back against the wall. Then a large needle flew out of the room after her, imbedding itself in the wall right by the nurse's head. The nurse took one look at the vibrating needle, and immediately fainted.

Kai did something very unexpected. He covered his face with his hands for a moment, as if he was embarrassed about something. He sighed, shaking his head as he walked to the room that the nurse had just been thrown from. His whole expression was saying 'not again'.

Ray looked at the door Kai was heading to and understood. The room number was 414.

* * *

If anything confuses you about my story then please say and i'll make sure to clarify it. Please review. 


	5. When i met you

As Kai walked to the door, a figure ran out colliding with him. Rage stared up at him fearfully for a second before she recognised him.

"Kai" she said happy that she had found him. She hugged him tight, still shivering. But she seemed calmer now that he was there. She was wearing a white hospital gown that covered her whole figure. Bandages covered most of her legs and her left arm. As he placed a hand comfortingly on her back, he felt more bandages that circled her entire back.

"She tried to put a needle in me Kai" Rage whispered in a shaking voice. Kai just stayed still, offering a comforting presence that was working in calming the girl.

"Oh my goodness."

Kai's head jerked up at the familiar voice, he looked around to see Mr Dickinson staring at the fainted nurse in horror. Doctor Giles was standing beside him with a similar expression on his face. The doctor attempted to pull the needle out of the wall, but apparently it was stuck in too deep. So he stood up looking at all the teens suspiciously.

"Who did this?" he demanded with his voice containing more shock than anger.

"Rage doesn't like needles" Kai answered simply. He stared at the doctor, examining him for any sign that he might be a threat to Rage. Instead, when Giles met his gaze he saw only pity not anger. Kai scowled, unable to tell which was worse.

"Kai, he looks like…"

Kai's attention was brought back to the girl standing beside him. Her blue green eyes were wide with fear as they fixed on the doctor. Kai looked between them both before he understood what was wrong. The doctor was wearing the exact same uniform as the scientists at the abbey had worn.

"Don't worry, he's not. That's what all the doctors around here wear. It doesn't mean that their bad people." Kai explained quietly, although seeing as they were standing in the same hallway all the others heard him.

"If you're sure," Rage said, not sounding totally convinced.

"I don't understand" Giles gasped, staring at Rage like it was the first time that he had noticed her. Kai's eyes narrowed as he turned his attention to the doctor again, it was just in his nature to mistrust doctors. He had no good memories containing medical people, only a whole lot of bad ones.

"How is it possible that she's even conscious?" continued the doctor, who was obviously very confused about the situation. "The drugs that were given to her to keep her asleep while her lung was repaired should have kept her knocked out for at least a few more hours. This is medically impossible."

Kai rolled his eyes at this, what an idiot. He placed a hand on Rage's shoulder immediately gaining her attention. Without fully realising it he lapsed back into the uncomplicated hand signals they had used back at the abbey when they hadn't dared to risk talking.

First he gestured to her, which was the first word, 'you'. Then he flattened his hand so that the palm faced her and the fingers were spread out, 'wait'. Last he gestured toward the hospital room that she had just ran out of, 'there'.

The signs were done so fluently and quickly that only Rage who was also familiar with the non-vocal language could understand what was being said. She nodded, and walked back into the room. Her beyblade was gripped tightly in her hand, and she looked oddly vulnerable wearing only the shapeless gown.

"To answer your question it is not medically impossible. Drugs just burn through her system faster than most." Kai said in a monotone voice.

"Amazing" the doctor said astonished, "if I could just run some tests on this, it could lead to a major breakthrough."

"NO!!!" Kai's hand was around the doctor's throat before either of them knew what was happening.

"No tests" the teen hissed as the doctor struggled uselessly against his grip. The doctor's feet flailed around, trying without success to reach the ground.

"Kai!" Kai immediately dropped the doctor as the sound of Ray's voice jolted him back to his senses. He stared at his hands in shock, he could barley believe what he had just done. He looked past his fingers to see the gasping doctor stumbling back to his feet. Usually at this point he would leave to sort out in his head what had happened and decide whether it was worth an apology. But Rage wouldn't forgive him if he left now, and he would never forgive himself if while he was off moping Bathos showed up.

He forced himself to mutter an apology, and leaned back against the wall like it was no big deal. He'd just been too on edge, and at the doctor mentioning running tests on Rage. It had sounded too familiar; tests had been run on her before. Kai knew that because he had always been the one left to comfort her when they were done.

"Its ok Kai" Giles rasped "its obvious that both you and her have been through a lot."

Kai's hands trembled with the need to hurt him and shut him up. He knew nothing of their pasts, how dare he act like they were in need of his pity. Kai crossed his arms over his chest so that no one would notice him shaking.

"How is she?" Kai asked in a voice that gave away no emotions.

"She's badly hurt enough that she shouldn't be able to move, let alone tackle a nurse. She has broken five ribs, one of which punctured a lung. But we operated on that fixing the lung and strapping up the ribs. She has also fractured her collarbone, and has a great number of cuts. It looks like a whip has been used on her back, causing a great number of deep slashes. It also seems that a heated knife was used on her legs and her left arm. We found two stab wounds on her left arm. Three on her right leg and two on her right. As well as this there are multiple burn marks on her legs.

This is not including the large number of bruising. Scaring indicates that this sort of treatment has been happening for a period of about ten years. We estimated this by looking at the earlier scars and dating when they were made. Unidentified chemicals have also been found in her system, however their effect what ever it was, seems to be waning. Her muscles also seemed to have suffered some trauma, which looks like she was electrocuted. However the lack of electric burns indicate that she was in a liquid when electrocuted.

Some of her scars seem to be similar to yours Kai. However her scars look to be more erratic and yours when compared to hers look to be more precise, and complicated. Since I also estimated your scars to be started around ten years ago, forgive me if I think that there is something that you should be telling us."

Kai acted as if he hadn't heard Giles's invitation to talk. He processed all her injuries in his mind, most had been what he had as he expected. So his face did not show the shock that his fellow teammates showed.

"Can I talk to her now?" he asked, his voice monotone.

The doctor gave a dissatisfied nod and Kai went to enter the room. A hand placed itself on his shoulder forcing him to stop at the doorway. He hated it when they did that, it always made his skin crawl when they touched him. It seemed to make his skin crawl when anyone touched him, no matter how sure he was that they weren't going to hurt him.

"You are going to explain this to us, right?" The owner of the hand said.

"I will" Kai promised "Just not yet."

Its only Ray, he tried to tell himself. Calm down. Still Kai couldn't help but feel relieved as Ray removed his hand from his shoulder. They thought that his hatred of being touched was merely a minor anti social trait. The problem was that it was more than that; of course them with their delusions of life being wonderful wouldn't get that. Rage understood, she had learnt the same way that he had about the cruelties that life brought.

He entered the room.

-

* * *

Rage was sitting on the edge of her bed swinging her legs absentmindedly in the air. Her black fringe flopped over her face as she hummed to herself. She looked so childish at that moment. The fact that the legs she was swinging so carelessly were heavily bandaged and leaking crimson made the scene so unreal.

Kai sat himself down on the end of the painfully white bed. He sat cross-legged facing her and after a few seconds Rage turned around so that she was also sitting with her legs loosely crossed on the bed facing him. This was how they had conversed for hours when they were children.

"Do you want my advice?" Kai said quietly after a while.

"I always want your advice Kai, tends to be good stuff." Rage argued, with a hint of humour in her expression.

"You've got to tell the police about what Bathos has been doing to you. That way he'll be locked up, he deserves that."

Rage looked down at the area of sheet between her and Kai. "If that happens" she started.

"If Bathos gets locked up, then I'll have no place to stay anymore. I hate Bathos, I really do Kai. But he's the only living family I've got left, I'll have no home."

"You can stay with me." Kai said slowly, he smiled slightly as Rage raised her head to look at him.

"I'd like that" she said surprised at his offer. She toyed with her mainly black blade.

"Tasmine missed Dranzer," she said gazing fondly at the fire-covered wolf that stood proudly on the bit chip. "She was the one who helped me find where you were."

"I'm glad" Kai said, not knowing what else to say. The comfortable silence between them was broken as a nurse entered the room carrying a tray with a needle on it. She seemed nervous, she had probably seen what had happened to the other nurse who had tried to inject Rage.

"I'm… um… here to give you morphine by the doctors orders." The nurse stammered, clearly not thrilled by the situation.

"Morphine is a drug that will stop you hurting so much" Kai explained to the puzzled girl. They hadn't been allowed painkillers at the abbey, so her confusion was justified. At the abbey pain had had to be bared with, it had just been a part of life. If you could call it a life that is.

Rage gave a slow nod, although her fear stood out on her face. She was terrified of needles, the abbey had seen to that. She reached into a drawer on the tiny cupboard that was placed by her bed. She picked something up out of it and placed it in the space between them. When she lifted her hand, Kai saw that it was a pack of cards.

"I kept it," she said, her voice sounding distant. "I kept it to remind myself of you, about all the times we used this pack to distract ourselves from what was happening. I think that playing with these cards was the closest thing to fun we had at the abbey."

She gave a shadow of a smile as she captured him in her gaze again. "Do you remember when I first bought this pack? It must have only been a few days after I first met you. We were five and I kept trying to teach you how to play with the cards. It took me hours to persuade you that no matter who won or lost no-one would punished for loosing. I was obsessed by the game of cards for some reason, the first time I met you. I remember I immediately tried to get you to play cards with me."

Kai smiled sadly, "The fact that we had no playing cards didn't seem to discourage you." He paused and then looked at her with humour in his gaze. "You were bossy back then" he teased.

Rage nodded, "I was" she agreed quietly.

The nurse took her time in measuring out the dosage; she didn't want to disturb their memories.

* * *

**Flashback **

A little boy with slate hair huddled in the corner of the cell. This dark dingy cell was his and Tala's room, although now it was empty. That was fine with the boy; his roommate never talked to him and all the adults around here only brought him pain.

His age was five and a half, and in his past six months at the abbey he had learnt a lot of things, none of them were pleasant. He cradled his right arm to his chest, he was sure that it was broken.

He had just been to see his grandfather today; he'd figured that his grandfather had made a mistake in sending him here. Through the months of drill after drill, punishment after punishment. He had convinced himself that his grandfather hadn't realised what went on here. But he hadn't been able to tell his grandfather the horrors that Boris bestowed on them, as he hadn't seen his grandfather since before he had sent him to the abbey. Until today.

He had been in the middle of a training drill when he had seen his grandfather walk by the room. Kai had immediately stopped what he was doing and ran to greet him. He had ignored the punishment that would come from leaving training like that. He had envisioned that as soon as Voltaire found out the truth he'd be shocked and would take him back to the mansion where his grandfather lived. Maybe they could take Tala with them, and Toni, Tala's older brother as well.

That hadn't been what happened. Kai had thought that his grandfather would be pleased to see him, that hadn't been the case. He'd been angry, the child shivered at the memory. Kai must have done something really bad to make Voltaire that angry with him. Reflecting back on it, his grandfather always seemed to be angry with him. In those few short weeks that he had spent in his grandfather's mansion before entering the abbey. His grandfather had hit him, and yelled at him a lot. But he'd figured that this time would be different.

That this time they would be like families were supposed to be, happy. Instead his grandfather had yelled at him, and then thrown him into a wall. He'd hurt his arm when he'd crashed into the stone surface. But his grandfather hadn't cared; he'd just gone on walking like nothing had happened. He'd left his grandson to lie in pain on the ground without so much as a backwards glace. Tears pricked at his eyes at the memory; strange as it sounded he had thought that his grandfather would care for him. Because no matter how much Voltaire hit or shouted at him, he was all he had left.

"Hello?"

The small boy raised his head at the sound. There in front of him knelt a little girl, six months younger than he was. A first aid kit sat beside her, apparently forgotten. The girl's head was perhaps a inch from his own, it seemed that no one had bothered to teach her to value personal space. He leaned back against the wall as he gazed into the stranger's wide blue green eyes.

"You're name's Kai, right?" She asked, shifting her gaze from his eyes to stare at the blue triangles that were tattooed on his face.

He nodded, moving his head as little as possible to avoid hitting her head with his own.

"My name's Kay" she said with a wide grin as she sat down to sit opposite him. She sat with her legs crossed, now that there was more distance between them. Kai could see that this girl had long black hair that must reach halfway down her back at least. Her wrists were bandaged, with spots of red showing through the white material. The girl didn't appear to notice.

"My papa just got a job here. An' he told me that I was supposed to bandage you up so that you can go to training t'morrow." She opened up the first aid kit that seemed way too big for her.

She placed gentle fingers on his arm, expertly easing it from his grip. He eyed her curiously as she splinted his arm firmly, and wrapped it up using a large amount of bandages and tape. It looked like she had done that before.

"There!" she announced, "all done." She seemed very proud of herself. Which she should be, it was a very good job. Not many people would have been able to splint an arm so tight without cutting off the blood flow.

"Kai?" she said, suddenly sounding shy. "Will you be my friend?"

The boy blinked several times in confusion. Just as the girl was about to think that perhaps he didn't want to be friends with her. The previously silent boy spoke up.

"What's a friend?" he asked in a fear filled voice.

"It's a…a…um" the girl frowned in deep concentration as she tried to think up a definition.

"It's a person that you care about and don't wanna get hurt or nothin' bad like that. And they feel the same about you." She smiled, obviously pleased with her definition.

"You don't want me to get hurt?" Kai asked in a surprised voice.

"Course not" the girl smiled.

"Then…I…I… don't want you to get hurted either" Kai said shyly. Up till now everyone had seemed to want him to get hurt. But Kay seemed different from everybody else.

"Good, then we're friends!" the girl seemed to light up with joy. Before she forced a serious expression onto her face.

"Now we're friends, lets play cards" she said as if the idea of cards was the most important thing in the world.

Kai sat silent for a minute before speaking again.

"What are cards?"

Kay groaned, slapping a hand to her face in exaggerated exasperation. "What are you, two?"

Kai frowned in confusion. "No, I'm five" he said matter of factually.

Kay groaned again.

---

* * *

Hours later it seemed that he was none the wiser.

"You said that cards are bits of paper" he accused.

She nodded "And…"

"That's just the floor," he said pointing to the 'cards' she had drawn in the dust on the floor of the cell between them.

"Kai, we've got to use imagination here. Cause I haven't got any real cards yet. So we've got to pretend."

Kai blinked again, this had to be the most confusing time he had ever had. "What's pretend?" he asked curiously.

"Pretend is where you believe something is real when it isn't" she said, she was getting good with explaining things.

"Isn't that lying?" Kai asked with wide eyes.

"No, it isn't"

"How come?"

"It just isn't, alright!" She regretted raising her voice as soon as she saw Kai cringe away from her.

"Are you mad wif me?" he asked cautiously.

"No, I'm you're friend. I'm not mad at you." She reassured him, he relaxed somewhat.

"I think I like having a friend" Kai said, his voice completely sincere.

She smiled at him, "Me too."

* * *

**End Flashback**

"Want to play?" Kai offered as the nurse neared with the needle.

Rage nodded, welcoming the distraction from the foreboding needle. "There're all in the right order," she said, frowning as Kai checked them to make sure.

"I have a right to check," he argued with a barley visible smile playing at his lips.

"Now, watch closely" he ordered.

He began shuffling the deck skilfully fast. Rage forced her eyes not to blink as she stared at the cards. Still, she could not help but wince as the needle entered her arm. But she did not break her concentration, and it was over soon.

Kai pulled a card out at random from the expertly shuffled deck, he placed it facedown on the bed not allowing her to see it. He placed the deck down next to it as he placed a finger on the card.

"Tell Me," he said.

"The queen of diamonds" she said, sureness in her voice.

Kai turned it over. The queen of diamonds gazed up at them.

"See you haven't got rusty with it then?" Kai teased.

"Me rusty? Never" Rage gave a small smile. They had developed this game through hundreds of hours of playing cards when they hadn't been training for some reason or another. It was fun, as well as good for developing memory skills.

* * *

So, what do you think? Please review. 


	6. Hate hospitals

"My turn to test you" Rage declared as she scooped up the cards. She did not bother to revert the cards to their original order. Instead she began shuffling the cards immediately. Which meant that not only did Kai have to keep up with the barely visible movements of the cards changing their order. But he had to remember where every card had been in the deck he had shuffled, and apply this knowledge to the rapid movements of the card.

He did not dare blink as he examined the continuously changing order of the cards. His entire body was still, it was unnerving how much he could concentrate.

"I like your friends Kai" Rage said as she changed shuffling styles, trying to catch him off guard.

Humour glinted in Kai's expression, but his concentration wasn't broken. "You've barely met them," he pointed out, without removing his eyes from the cards.

"True" Rage remarked as she pulled a card randomly from the pack, she placed it face down between them. Then she continued to shuffle the cards.

"But I know that if their your friends then they must be special" she said as she placed two more cards face down between them.

Kai raised an eyebrow, not sure how to take that. "Is that good or bad?"

"Probably a bit of both" Rage shrugged before pointing at one of the cards between them. "Tell Me," she ordered.

"Four of clubs" he said without hesitation. It was turned over to reveal he had been right. She pointed to the next one.

"Five of hearts" Again he was right.

He smiled before he named the last card, "the ace of spades." Rage turned it over and gave a small nod when she saw that he had been correct.

"So," he said as she put the cards away. "Are you going to take my advice?"

She bit her lip nervously as she placed the cards back in the drawer. "If you help me then I will," she said finally.

"I could probably manage that" he confirmed, he looked around as if readying to leave. Then he halted suddenly.

"Kai? What is it?" Rage asked worriedly.

"I'm just…I'm really glad that you're here" Kai looked almost shy as he gave a half smile.

"Me too Kai" Rage looked down at her lap for a moment as she organised her thoughts. "I really missed you," she confessed awkwardly.

"Me too" Kai confirmed, they both avoided each other's gazes for a moment. Neither were used to confessing how they felt, hiding feelings had been a daily part of the abbey. Friendship had been one of those hidden things, the realisation that they could do something even as simple as smile at each other without getting punished was mind-blowing for both of them. It was Rage who finally broke the silence.

"Seeing as you're going to talk to the doctor people here. You can tell them that there is no way that I am spending the night here." Rage grimaced at the mere thought of that. She paused to think before she continued.

"And I need something to wear because I really, really hate these clothes."

Kai examined the shapeless white hospital gown she was wearing. "I can see why" he smiled; dodging the halfhearted punch she sent his way. He jumped off the bed and headed for the door, he felt happy. That seemed weird; he'd felt all right before, but not usually so happy that even his dark past didn't seem to spoil his mood. It felt kind of nice.

He walked up to the small crowd of which four were his team and the remaining two were the doctor Giles and Mr Dickinson. His smile slipped from his face as he remembered his duty to protect Rage. It would be hard to convince the adults to let her leave the hospital, but there was absolutely no way that she could bear to be in this place for a whole night. 'Might as well get straight to the point' he thought to himself.

"Rage isn't staying here tonight." Kai steadied himself, for the arguments.

"Don't you think that the doctor should decide that Kai?" Mr Dickinson tried reasoning with him.

"No" was the teen's deliberately cold response.

"Kai" Giles began, "I'm very sorry but with your friend being in the condition that she is…" Kai, who defiantly wasn't hiding his dislike for the doctor, cut him off.

"No I'm very sorry doctor" Kai said his voice dripping with sarcasm. "But there isn't a snowball's change in hell that she is going to stay in a place like this a second more than she needs to. And seeing as she can walk she's ready to leave now. So either you let her leave now, or she'll leave herself before morning comes."

"He's absolutely right," a female voice behind him confirmed, "Although I might have worded it a little less sarcastic."

Kai didn't have to look behind him to know that it was Rage. The dark haired girl stepped forward to stand next to him.

"Well I might perhaps be able to sort out a short term placement through social services." Mr Dickinson considered.

"No" Kai said firmly "She stays with me."

Rage unconsciously moved a little closer to Kai, horrified at the thought of being split up from him. Kai's reaction was the same.

"I'm really not sure about this Mr Dickinson." Doctor Giles cautioned the older man.

"Mr Dickinson?" Rage whispered quietly to herself.

"You're really slow if you've only just recognised him." Kai commented with a tone of amusement in his voice.

"Hey!" Rage growled giving him a small shove. "I haven't seen him in like six years, give me a break!"

"So did he think that you were dead too?" Kai asked, confused at how she had seemingly been hidden for the last six years. It looked like no one had seen her for the last six years, or at least, himself and Mr Dickinson hadn't.

"Dunno" Rage shrugged, "But he is standing right there, so you could just ask him you know."

Kai rolled his eyes before turning his attention to Mr Dickinson. The old man looked completely confused, apparently he didn't recognise Rage either.

"Mr Dickinson" Kai began knowing that he would have to remind the BBA director if he was going to get any answers.

"Rage was Kay Hunter, or Schild depending on whether you use her mother's or father's last name. You saw her at you're visits to the abbey."

"Only I hate that name now, so I only use the name Rage." Rage added firmly.

Mr Dickinson's eyes widened as astonishment covered his expression. He looked back and forth between Rage and Kai with his mouth opening and closing. At last he managed to splutter out a word.

"Oh my goodness."

* * *

**Flashback**

"Kai" Voltaire said, kneeling down till he was eye level with the young boy. "This is Mr Dickinson, a associate of mine. Why don't you introduce yourself to him while I show some of his colleges around? Does that sound good to you?"

It wasn't really a question but the five year old nodded anyway. He stared at the moustached man with open curiosity as his grandfather and the other men walked away. The small boy still had his arm in a sling from where his grandfather had broken it. That had been roughly a week ago.

"Hello to you Kai" Mr Dickinson said with a wide smile, he'd been looking forward to meeting Voltaire's grandson ever since his old friend had mentioned having one. Children were so innocent and carefree that Mr Dickinson had always regretted never having any of his own, but he had been married to his job so sadly his time had passed.

The small slate haired boy remained silent, his eyes wide as he gazed up at the stranger. So Mr Dickinson decided on a different approach.

"How did you do that?" he asked pointing to the bandage wrapping the boy's right arm.

"I fell" Kai answered immediately. The sadness in the child's voice struck an alarm inside of the older man. But he dismissed it as normal, after all the child had just lost his parents only less than a year before.

"Hey Kai!" came a searching yell. The boy looked around expectantly as a small girl just a little younger than him came running up.

"Where you been Kai?" the aqua eyed girl asked curiously, "I been lookin' everywhere."

Her long sheet of jet-black hair flowed across her back as she tilted her head inquisitively. Suddenly she noticed the adult, "Who's he?" she said with wide eyes.

"Hello there" Mr Dickinson said kindly as he kneeled down with the help of his cane so that he was eye level with the young children.

"Hi" the little girl said as she opened and closed her hand in a small wave of greeting. Then her astonished expression melted into a huge smile.

"My name's Kay" she said with a grin, "what's yours?"

"My name is Mr Dickinson," he said in a friendly voice. She was positively adorable and seemed to talk enough for both Kai and her, which might explain why he was so quiet.

Her blue green eyes widened again as she took in his appearance. His greying moustache and balding head must seem so odd to one so young. He was proven right by her next comment.

"Are you really, really old?" she asked, her gleaming eyes as wide as saucers.

"Not as old as you'd think" he chuckled at her expression; she was the picture of innocence.

"So are you two friends?" he questioned them companionly. Surprisingly, it was Kai who answered.

"Yeah" the slate haired child answered with a cautious smile. "Kay's my bestest friend" he said softly as he instinctively slipped his hand into her's.

**End Flashback**

* * *

As Mr Dickinson had continued to visit the abbey every year he had watched them grow. But they had always remained together; with each passing year that he had visited his suspicions had grown. Both of them had become paler and more reserved, and almost always they had one wound or another. Whenever he asked them about it they always claimed that they had fell. But their expressions and the amount of wounds they had would arise suspicions in them. The lack of proof had always frustrated him, it seemed that the proof had arrived a little too late. 

"You've grown up" Mr Dickinson exclaimed, "the last time I saw you, you were looking forward to your ninth birthday. When you weren't there the next year when I checked the abbey, they told me that you'd gone to live with your mother."

Kai felt Rage tense beside him and he knew what was going through her head. She always acted this way when her mother was mentioned, she always avoided the subject. Memories like that were raw in both their hearts, it hurt to think of the past and Rage's mother brought up particularly sore memories for her. Instinctively his hand folded over one of her's, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"They lied" she remarked softly, her eyes fixed on the floor as she squeezed his hand gratefully.

"So" Kai said, his expression giving away nothing. "Can she stay with me?"

"I could never split you two up" Mr Dickinson said, his eyes twinkling with the memories of them growing up together. The year after Rage had left, Kai had seemed so lonely and angry at everything. Now that they were back together, it just seemed right somehow.

"Although, Kai, are you sure that you can manage? She is quite wounded."

Kai shrugged, "I've done it before, I can manage." Kai tensed slightly as he realised what he had just said. His team looked at him with expressions of confusion and pity. He felt angry because of that, he hated it when people pitied him.

"I can set up police to guard the hotel tonight" Mr Dickinson reasoned, "but I'll need you two to talk to the police soon so that we can sort this out, is that alright?"

Kai turned slightly to capture Rage's aqua gaze with his fiery one, he saw things hidden in her eyes that most people would miss. Pain, exhaustion and fear, as well as a determination that was probably one of the only things keeping her on her feet at the moment.

"In the morning" Kai confirmed, knowing that it would be too hard on her to sort this out tonight.

Mr Dickinson nodded and went over all the emergency contact numbers with Kai while the nurse who had successfully injected Rage went to get some clothes for her.

* * *

Ten minutes later Rage emerged from her room wearing a baggy blue t-shirt. A pair of jeans that was a little too big for her, but which she held up with a red belt. A red hoody with a comfortable large front pocket in which she was currently storing her blade, cards and the few other small possessions she owned. And a pair of black trainers that bore a vast amount of mysterious scraping on them. The fact that they were all from the recently deceased didn't bother her; there were more important things to worry about. 

"I'm tired," she said, sleepily rubbing her eyes. Suddenly her eyes widened as she looked suspiciously at the people waiting in the hallway.

"I am allowed to be tired, aren't I?" she asked, concerned.

"Yeah, don't worry." Kai answered reassuringly. He remembered the times when so much as a yawn would earn a punishment. Anything that could indicate weakness was punished.

"Why would you think that you weren't allowed to be tired?" Tyson asked curiously.

"Why wouldn't I?" Rage answered evenly.

"Um" Ray interrupted the interesting standoff. "It's getting dark, we should head back to the hotel."

"I've got the bus waiting outside" Mr Dickinson said, "Your match tomorrow isn't until the afternoon. So I'll come around at about nine-tomorrow morning with the police."

The others walked off, although Rage hesitated for a moment. "Nice to see you again Mr Dickinson" she said with a glimmer of a smile, before catching up with Kai.

"You too my child" Mr Dickinson replied. He would make sure that she stayed safe. The BBA director smiled as Rage shyly slipped her hand into Kai's. The slate haired teen leaned close to the girl to hear something she whispered in his ear. It was as if they'd never been apart, only now it was even better. As if they were free of something that had been scaring them when they were children. Now they were free, and together, and Mr Dickinson would try his hardest to make it stay that way.

* * *

My sisters are watching charmed in the background and i can't really concentrate, so tell me if i've made any major errors with this. Anyhow, theres another chapter. Please review. 

**Pishcules: Thank you so much for your reviews.**

**MsKai: Thanks for your review. I made up the scars, but as you so rightly said he doesn't take his top off in the show. So as far as we know, he could be hiding scars underneath it like he is in my fic.**


	7. Pizza!

"You have a lot of explaining to do Kai" Ray accused him, leaning over the back of his seat to fix their team captain squarely in his amber stare.

Kai had retreated to the back of the bus, which hadn't helped him much as the others had followed him back. They wouldn't leave him alone, it was really quite annoying. Rage had fallen sound asleep as soon as she had sat down. She was currently curled up next to the window in the seat by Kai.

"Yeah, what's up with the girl anyway Kai?" Max inquired from the seat beside Ray, he was doing his best to keep his voice down in case he woke Rage.

"I told you" Kai answered firmly, "she's an old friend."

"That doesn't explain squat, and you know it Kai" Tyson argued from the seat across from Kai. He was making Kai uncomfortable at how far the navy haired blader was leaning towards him. Not that the cold teen was showing any signs of it of course.

"You know she went to the abbey with me, I mentioned that fact. What more do you want to know?" Kai said dismissively, hoping that they'd drop it.

"How about where you got those scars from?" Ray asked, his voice showing clearly that he wanted an answer.

Kai tensed, he crossed his arms in front of him as if to protect himself from the question.

"You can't make me answer that," Kai said through gritted teeth.

"You're right Kai, we can't. But we were hoping as friends that you'd trust us enough to tell us." Max said, his expression determined.

"Besides Kai" Ray added, "You did promise an explanation."

'Stupid promises' Kai thought as he gave a solemn nod. "I will give you an explanation," he said as the bus finally ground to a halt.

"Just, not right yet. Please?" he probably shouldn't have offered an explanation in the first place. But seeing as he had, he would never go back on a promise. Promises were sacred to him, ever since…He shook his head to block the memory out. He couldn't face that right now, then again Rage was preparing to tell her past to a bunch of strangers. So maybe he should follow her lead and face up to the demons haunting his past as well.

And he would, he decided. Just not yet.

"Ok Kai" Tyson said grudgingly as the team began to exit the bus. "Just remember that we're here for you, ok?" he said before turning to exit the bus.

Kai gently shook Rage awake and followed. Tyson was being serious, it was kind of scary.

* * *

Rage's eyes widened as she stared at the lift the others were heading for.

"What's that?" she asked in a shocked voice. The small space inside the cold metal doors sent a shiver down her spine.

"That would be an elevator," Kai explained to the hesitant girl. The abbey had mostly stuck with stairs, so her surprise was justified.

"Whatever it is, it gives me the creeps," Rage said with a barely suppressed shudder. "Can I please, please use the stairs?"

"You sure?" Kai asked doubtfully, "You do have about five holes in your legs."

Rage nodded, casting another fearful glance at the elevator. She had a severe dislike for small spaces.

Fair enough, Kai thought as he told the others he was taking the stairs. He couldn't very well let her go off by herself, especially in the condition that she was currently in. Besides it might just give him the chance he needed to catch up with her without the others eavesdropping.

"What have you been up to for the past six years?" Kai asked as they started up the stairs. Sticking directly to the point always seemed easier somehow.

"After I nearly died I was kept in a separate wing of the abbey to recover. Bathos was angry, he said that he had given me too much freedom. He said that must have been the reason I tried to escape. He made a cage, and he locked me up in it for about a year. I almost went mad with the total darkness and inability to move. Finally he let me out, but by that time you had already left." Rage leaned heavily against the railing as she forced herself up the steps.

"Nothing much happened then, until two years ago. I had had enough of it all, so I ran away from the abbey. Bathos came after me; I remained on the streets up until a few months ago when he caught me again. It was bad when he caught me, like it always was. By that time the abbey had been closed down, so he rented a place nearby. I should have come to find you when I first ran away, but I didn't want Bathos to find me. So I just kept a low profile and kept to myself, and I wasn't sure where to go or if you'd remember me."

"Then just last night, I escaped again. I had collected information as to where you were, which was a hard job by the way. Then when I was searching the area and trying to stay away from Bathos, I ran into you. That's pretty much the whole last six years summed up."

"That explains why you weren't at the abbey when I went back there. No one said anything, not even Tala. So I just assumed that you were dead." There was a bitter tone to Kai's voice.

"Kai" Rage started awkwardly, "Tala, he told me what happened to you after I got shot."

Kai looked in the other direction, ashamed for some reason. He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling sick to the stomach at the mere mention of what had happened. Rage could have been talking about a lot of things, but by the tone of her voice. He knew instinctively what particular event she was talking about. He didn't want to think about that, he wished he could just forget it again.

"And I'm really sorry Kai, I'm sorry that I couldn't be there to help you. To stop him from hurting you like that." An awkward silence reined for a while in which they just concentrated on walking.

"What's past is past" Kai said finally in a cold voice. He concentrated on the stairs for a moment, while he collected his thoughts on what he wished to talk with her about away from the presence of the team.

"At the hospital" he started, "the doctor said that you'd suffered electric wounds while in a liquid. You know as well as I do that that particular kind of torture is only used in interrogation. So my question is, what kind of information were they trying to get out of you?"

They had just reached the right floor, and Rage shifted uncomfortably on the landing.

"The time I escaped from the abbey. I kind of, might of, perhaps 'borrowed' something from the abbey records." She said sheepishly, "maybe" she added as an afterthought.

"What kind of something?" Kai asked curiously.

Rage reached into the spacious front pocket of her red hoody. She removed an object and held it out to Kai.

"Our lives" she said, as Kai took the pack of five CDs out of her hand.

She continued talking as he examined the discs with a look of total shock.

"Bathos wanted to know where I had put them. I didn't tell him; as soon as I escaped I retrieved the discs and went to find you. I figured you might have a use for them, they are pretty important."

"How much data is on them?" Kai asked, still not recovered from his surprise.

"More than enough to incriminate Bathos, Boris and Voltaire. As well as basic 'plans to take over the world' data, which are so cheesy by the way. They also contain just over ten years of footage from every single camera in the abbey. Including them stupid hidden ones that we were always trying to spot. I've only skimmed through the data though, didn't want to find out too much. Or remember it." Rage shuddered slightly, averting her eyes from the discs.

* * *

They walked in silence to the room. Kai remembered just in time to pocket the discs before opening the door. He didn't need any more questions asked of him just now.

"Guess what?" Tyson shouted as they entered the lounge area. "I just ordered food! And it's going to be here soon!"

Kai rolled his eyes, so much for Tyson being serious. "I'm going to train," he muttered, before walking into the next room. There was a beyblade stadium in there, and he really needed to focus now. To process all that had happened today, and to think on what to do with the five discs that were burning a hole in his back pocket.

Rage looked disappointed as Kai exited the room. She knew better than to follow him just now. He needed some time to figure things out. Still that didn't make her feel any less awkward as he left her in the room with his teammates.

"We're all very curious as to who you actually are" Max said with a friendly grin.

"Hey, are you American?" Rage questioned suddenly.

"Yeah, I am" Max answered, confused.

"That's cool, I'm American too" Rage said with an attempt at a smile, it was small compared to Max's. But a smile none the less.

"Really?" Max said, sounding surprised, "that's so cool."

"Hang on a minute" Ray said, confused. "But I thought you were from the abbey, and that's in this country."

"I am" Rage said with a sweet smile, "but that doesn't mean that I was born here silly. I moved here from America when I was five."

Twenty minutes later and there was a knock at the door.

"Food!" shouted Tyson rushing for the door.

Rage raised an eyebrow at his unusual antics. Ray laughed at her expression; she had enjoyed talking with them. The others were mostly relieved that she hadn't turned out to be another Kai. Although she had only given very basic details of her past, with no mention of her parents. She still remained fairly open and pleasant with people.

"You get used to it" Ray reassured her.

Rage shook her head as Tyson re-entered the room with two pizza boxes. She doubted that very much.

The boys immediately opened the boxes and took a slice each from what was inside. Rage eyed the contents warily.

"Um…Ray, what is that?" she asked hesitantly tugging lightly on his sleeve.

He stared at her with wide amber eyes. "Its pizza" he said, shocked that she wouldn't know that. She remained confused.

"It's a type of food," Kai said as he settled next to her on the sofa. Rage's face lit up as soon as she noticed him, then her thoughts returned to the 'pizza'.

"An edible type?" she asked warily, examining the pizza with her eyes.

"An edible type." Kai repeated with a nod.

"Its odour is pretty overpowering, I couldn't even smell you when you re-entered the room."

"It's that kind of food" Kai shrugged.

"Wait, did you just say you could 'smell' people?" Tyson asked, shocked and oh so confused.

"Uh huh" Rage confirmed, "I'm good at smelling stuff, and Kai is good at hearing stuff. Its just how we are."

"Wait" Max frowned, thinking very deeply about this. "But Kai doesn't smell."

"Everyone has their own scent" Rage explained. "I'm just much more sensitive to smells than people usually are. A lot more, like think a dog's sense of smell. My sense of smell is about as sensitive as that. To me you all have a scent, Kai smells slightly of mint and a cold winter. Kenny's scent is more like rubber, plastic and heated metal. Tyson's is more like food. Max's is more sweet, like sugar. And Ray's scent is like mountain air; at least I think so seeing as I've never been up a mountain before. It has a trace of a feline scent to it as well."

"Wow" Max gasped, "That's pretty weird."

"And I'm guessing that Kai has pretty much the same thing, only it's his hearing that is advanced instead of his sense of smell?" Ray questioned.

Rage shrugged, "Yeah pretty much" she agreed.

"I guess that explains why it's impossible to sneak up on you Kai" Ray observed. Kai shifted uncomfortably, people discussing him was not his idea of a good time.

"You should eat something Rage" Kai reminded her, knowing Bathos; she probably hadn't eaten in a while.

Rage eyed the pizza hesitantly, "you eat some first Kai, and then I'll eat some."

"You're just trying to get me to eat something, aren't you?" he accused her with narrowed eyes.

She crossed her arms over her chest and matched his glare with one of her own. "Ray says that you haven't eaten all day, so you're going to eat something now" she said firmly.

Kai grudgingly reached for a piece of pizza and ate it slowly. He made a face as he forced himself to eat it, even though he really had no appetite for it. It was almost painful in some way for him to eat; he disliked that particular routine immensely.

"As long as you eat something too" he said after he swallowed his first mouthful.

Rage seemed fairly proud of herself as she reached for a piece of pizza. She had no problems eating her's, in fact she appeared to be enjoying it a lot.

Kai felt almost jealous of her. 'Bite, chew, swallow' he repeated over and over in his mind as he forced the large slice of pizza to go bit by bit down his throat. The usually considered nice taste of it only made it burn more as it travelled down to his stomach. He almost cheered when he had finished the slice; he wiped his now grease covered fingers on his trousers to be rid of any last reminders of the meal.

"Want another slice?" Rage asked.

Kai was quick to shake his head. The look of disappointment on her face made him need to say something. "You know I can't Rage." Kai said quietly.

Rage seemed sad as she replied. "You haven't improved much, have you?"

Kai was about to argue, before he really thought about it. "I guess not," he said apologetically.

"Kenny, I need to borrow Dizzi for while" he said, turning his attention to the small brunette.

"You won't hurt her…will you Kai?" Kenny asked nervously as he remained unsure whether to trust Kai with his precious laptop.

Kai simply snatched the laptop away with a cold look. He retreated into his and Ray's bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

"Don't worry Chief, Kai won't hurt her" Ray reassured the shocked Kenny.

"What was that between you and Kai?" Max asked suddenly, turning to Rage.

Rage shook her head slowly, "I'm sorry, but I don't think he'd forgive me if I told you" she explained.

Max nodded, hating to see her so disappointed. "Its alright" he reassured her.

* * *

"What's going on Kai?" Dizzi questioned, sounding just a little scared. She was alone with the scary team captain; there was no Kenny to be seen.

"I'm just copying some data," Kai answered as he placed a blank CD in one CD drive and one of the five in the other. "I don't want you to look at it, its private information."

"Whatever you say Mr Sourpuss" Dizzi answered, if she had fingers she'd be crossing them behind her back at this moment. As well as copying the data filled disc to the other disc, she copied it to her hard drive as well. Just in case, she just couldn't resist.

* * *

Sooo... whats your opinion about this chapter. I only have five reviews for six chapters which is really kind of sad. Espcially considering that this is the seventh chapter posted. So i want more reviews, much more.

Please?


	8. Promises

When Kai walked back into the room he was paler than usual. It had taken a couple of hours to copy the data, mostly due to the fact that he had taken the liberty to look at some of it. He felt sick; he paused just standing by the door to his room. His crimson eyes were glazed over, still caught up in what he had seen. It wasn't that he hadn't seen it before, he had lived it. But the video footage still brought up memories that he would rather not think about.

"Was it bad?"

Kai didn't have to look up to know that the voice belonged to Rage. The gang had apparently been watching TV, now was the interval. She leaned over the back of the sofa, her chin propped up on her hands. She stared at him, seeming worried.

Kai nodded, not trusting himself to speak. His eyes remained unfocused as his grip tightened on the laptop he carried in one hand. He didn't appear to notice the concerned gazes he was receiving, although Kenny's concern seemed directed at Dizzi rather than Kai.

"Can you use it?"

Kai hesitated before nodding again, his eyes refocused themselves as he noticed what he was carrying. Without a word he handed the laptop back to Kenny. Then he turned to Rage, with an effort to hide the negative emotions swirling on his features. He didn't want to make her any more worried than she already was.

"What are you watching?" he asked casually changing the subject. There hadn't been any time for watching television at the abbey, so Kai had no idea what Rage's reaction to it would be.

Rage's face lit up as he had hoped it would, all the upsetting thoughts seemed to have been forgotten for the moment. Kai had nearly forgotten the enthusiasm she had showed as a child when introduced to new things. It looked like that hadn't changed.

"We're watching a mov…ie" Rage pronounced the word as if she had never heard it before.

"An' it's got these wizards an' witches in it, an' its really, really cool. An' it's called Harry Potter, an' there's books of it too. An' Ray said that he has all of the books, an' he said that I could read every single one of them."

Kai raised an eyebrow at her questionily when she at last paused for breath. While it was nice to see her happy for the moment at least. She still seemed a little too hyper for the current situation.

"Has Max been feeding you sweets?" Kai asked suspiciously, causing the named blond to blush slightly.

"Chocolate" Rage confirmed with a smile. "It doesn't taste like anything I've eaten before, but I like it!"

Max grinned sheepishly at Kai, from the blonde's position to the left of Rage on the sofa. He looked very afraid that Kai might not approve of him giving chocolate to his mysterious friend. Then the film came back on causing both the sofa's occupants to turn around to watch it. Tyson did the same from his position on a very comfortable looking armchair. Kenny was across the room tending to Dizzi.

As Kai stood there watching Rage finally acting more or less how she should be acting for the first time in years. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards slightly in what might be considered a smile. He hoped more than anything that this peace would last.

Ray walked quietly over to him, with a knowing look. He stood himself next to Kai as the team captain watched his rescued friend proudly.

"Its nice to see her happy" Ray said in a casual tone.

"It is" agreed Kai, his guard down enough not to just offer his usual 'hmph'.

"It seems like she's been through a lot," continued Ray, secretly wanting to get answers from his silent friend.

"She has" was the blader's distracted answer.

Both boys froze into silence as Rage turned around to catch them in an angry glare. She raised a finger to her lips and hushed them; apparently their talking had been interrupting the movie.

With a suppressed grin, Ray sat down in a spare armchair to watch the film. After a moment of hesitation, Kai made his way to sit down next to Rage on the sofa. Watching television wasn't his thing, but he wanted to stay close to Rage. Partly to protect her and keep an eye on her wounds, and partly just because being around her made him feel a little more relaxed. She was the one person he was absolutely one hundred percent sure he could trust.

Growing up with a friend forged deep bonds between each other. Growing up with a friend in a place like the abbey meant that the bond went even deeper. Because at the abbey you had to constantly place your life in the other person's hands every day. You had to trust each other, to rely on each other. Kai felt himself instinctively reverting back to that old system, to rely on her, as he knew she was relying on him.

* * *

**Flashback**

"What do you think Kay? Is it poisoned?"

The three five year olds sat in a circle facing each other. In front of each of them was a metal plate on which was a small hunk of bread and what might have been mushy peas. They were in a small windowless cell with two ragged beds on either side of the room. It was night, a bare light bulb hung from the damp ceiling glaring illumination into the murky room.

The children themselves looked half starved; their torn clothes seemed baggy for their small frames. Dark shadows under their eyes indicated lack of sleep, after this meal they would get to bed immediately to catch as much rest as they could before morning came again. White bandages could be seen through the tears in their clothing.

Kay sniffed the air lightly before answering. Her coal black hair contrasted harshly with her pale face, making her seem almost mythical.

"Mine's not poisoned, neither is yours Tala. Its only Kai's they've poisoned again."

The small red head pushed his plate closer to the middle of the group as he contemplated the answer. He broke off a bit of his bread and handed it wordlessly to Kai as he started eating the remaining food on his plate, still deep in thought.

"How come they always poison my food?" Kai asked, chewing on the stale bread. He dipped it in some of Tala's mushy peas in hopes to moisten it enough to eat.

"I don't know" Kay said, handing him a piece of her bread as well. Her blue green eyes flashed uncertainly as she tried to guess at whatever motives the adults at the abbey had. She absent-mindedly touched her cheek as she wondered what motives had been behind the deep cut her father had placed there. He had got mad, and he had been holding a knife. It could have been worse though, much worse.

"Can I stay here tonight?" she said in a small voice.

Both boys nodded their approval. Kai swallowed his last dry mouthful of food. He took a small drink from the jug of water they all shared before asking a question.

"Will Bathos notice?" the small boy seemed too grown up for his years, as he stared, concerned for her with serious crimson eyes.

Kay shook her head from side to side solemnly. "Nope, he's gone out drinking again tonight."

Kai was about to say something more when the light bulb went out. Leaving only the light filtering from beneath the door.

"Lights out!" came a booming voice from the hallway.

The boys scrambled for their beds, least they be discovered out of bed. Kay crawled underneath Kai's bed, to wait for the guard to pass.

**End Flashback**

* * *

"Rage, I'm not a pillow!" Kai argued as Rage laid herself leisurely out across the sofa. Her legs were rested on Max, who didn't seem to mind, and her head was rested comfortably on Kai's chest.

"You are now," Rage stated firmly, not removing her gaze from the television. She appeared perfectly contented just lying there.

"How do you figure that?" Kai asked, giving a halfhearted attempt to move. Only to discover that she had him pinned down pretty good. He couldn't move his left arm at all. The others held back laughs on seeing his predicament.

"Well" she said bringing her right hand in front of her face as if using her fingers to calculate something. "I figure I have how many broken ribs?"

"Five" Kai said grimly, having a feeling where this was going.

"Well, I figure I have five broken ribs. Which defiantly means that you have to be assigned to pillow duty at least until I get better." Rage nodded satisfied, reviewing her calculations.

"Why don't you just use a real pillow?" Kai questioned moodily.

Rage tilted back her head to look up at his eyes. "And give up the chance to annoy you?" she asked with a slight smile. "Never."

At this Max promptly burst out laughing, unable to hold it in any longer. Tyson joined in, and so did Ray causing both the pinned teen and the pinner teen to look up in surprise. It was at that moment that the ending credits of the movie rolled on the television screen, but no one was really paying any attention to it anymore.

"What's so funny?" Both of them asked looking confused. Kai actually seemed a little uncertain and wary in his not knowing what situation he was in.

"Your acting like…like a couple" Tyson spluttered out between laughter.

Kai recovered his emotionless mask immediately. He fixed Tyson in a cold glare, which caused the hysterical blader's laughter to diminish almost at once. Rage however remained confused.

"A couple?" she repeated, tilting her head questioningly.

"You know, like a girlfriend and boyfriend?" Max explained with a smile.

"You do know what a girlfriend and a boyfriend is, don't you?" Ray asked, kneeling down to turn off the television.

Rage sat up stiffly, a wince was the only clue as to the amount of pain she was feeling. Kai eyed her, worried as she clenched her teeth. Closing her eyes to wait for the pain to subside at least a little.

"What can I say?" she shrugged the pain hidden again from her face. "Abbey education sucks."

"How do you do that?" Kenny asked out of the blue. No one had even noticed him approach, well, Kai might of but his impassive face was giving away nothing.

"Do what?" Rage said raising her eyebrows.

"We heard how much you are hurt from the doctor" Kenny elaborated. "Yet for the last few hours you've barley show any evidence for pain at all."

"I'm just good at hiding my pain, it's second nature for me. Same as Kai is good at hiding his emotions. He taught me a bit of his trait and I taught him a bit of mine as well. We had to learn something from the abbey, didn't we?" Rage said, sounding bitter.

"I'm tired, I'm gonna get ready for bed." Rage said before walking in the direction of the bathroom.

"She's right" Ray confirmed, getting up from his place on the floor. "It's late, we should all be getting some sleep. It's the last match of the tournament tomorrow, we've got to win it if we want to advance."

The rest of the team nodded sleepily and made their way to get ready for bed as well.

* * *

Five minutes later, Kai was sitting in the window of the lounge room. He was waiting for Rage to come out from the bathroom. She had to change her bandages as well, so he was settled down comfortably for a long wait. He wore a pair of dark navy pyjamas that matched the colour of the back of his hair.

He was staring out of the window at the starlit sky. Usually the pinpoints of light against the pitch-black background gave him some comfort in their beauty. But something had been nagging at him ever since he had seen Bathos again that afternoon. He turned around when he heard the bathroom door open, struggling to keep his worry from his face.

Rage gave a small smile in greeting as she walked over to him. She was wearing a pair of orange pyjamas that she'd borrowed from Max. She was about the blonde's size, so it fitted her perfectly. She held a half wrapped roll of bandage to her left arm.

"Can you?" she asked sheepishly. "I managed the others but I can't use both hands to tie up this one."

Kai nodded, quickly and expertly bandaging the arm. Practice made perfect is what everyone said, and he'd had a hell of a lot of practice. He didn't even bat an eyelid when he caught a glimpse of the damage he was bandaging over.

"Rage…" Kai started.

"No, I know that expression Kai." Rage looked out of the window, her eyes sad. "Something bad is going to happen, isn't it?" Her voice sounded defeated.

Kai lowered his gaze, "Dranzer's got a bad feeling," he admitted.

"Tasmine's got a bad feeling too, she has ever since after I escaped. This means that I'm not free of him, doesn't it." Rage stated grimly. They stood for a moment, just staring out of the window. Neither knowing what to say, before.

"Why?" Rage growled angrily.

Kai turned around, shock in his eyes as Rage hit the windowsill with all her strength.

"WHY!" she yelled louder this time as her fists came crashing down on the wood.

Before she could hit the windowsill again, Kai grabbed her wrists firmly in his hands.

"Stop it Rage, you'll hurt yourself." He ordered the girl. He loosened his grip on her as she raised her head to look at him. Although her eyes were dry of tears, he had rarely seen her look so hopeless and sad.

"Why can't I be just a normal child? I want to be able to watch television, to read books that I want to read. To eat pizza, to beyblade when I want to beyblade. I want to be able to smile, laugh and maybe someday I want to learn how to cry again. I want to be free of all of it, of the abbey, free of my father. Why did this have to happen to us?" she shouted, anger apparent in every word.

Kai stood there soaking up every word. Rage always tried to be so strong for everyone else. But everyone had a limit to how much they could take. Rage had passed hers.

The black haired girl stood shakily, her breathing laboured. "I don't want to be afraid anymore," she said quietly, avoiding his gaze as if ashamed at her outburst.

The once strong Kai hesitated awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Beybattles and other kinds of battles, both verbal and physical he could manage. But comforting a friend was harder. That required emotion, and Kai had gone through long years of hiding from the world that he possessed any. Still, this was his friend.

The teenaged boy stepped closer to the shivering girl. And with a last moment of hesitation, he gently pulled her into a hug.

Rage stopped shivering at once, startled. The last time Kai had actually hugged her himself, she had been five years old. Needless to say, she was more than a little surprised. But still comforted none the less, she calmed down, feeling safe.

Heads peeked out of their doors, having been disturbed by the noise. Kai saw the curious faces of his teammates watching him, and he glared at them. His arms were wrapped protectively around his friend. As his other friends sheepishly backed into their rooms, cowed by his fiery stare.

"It'll be ok" he assured her when they were once again alone. "I'm here, and as long as we stick together everything will turn out fine."

"Like in the abbey?" she asked stepping back from the hug. "We stuck together in the abbey."

"Yeah" he admitted. "But it'll be better now. I promise that I'll do anything and everything in my power to keep you safe. I promise." Kai said sincerely.

"You made a promise before. That promise got broken." Rage stated, her ocean eyes clouded with memories.

"Which is why I'm going to make sure that I keep this one." Kai said bravely. He cocked his head slightly, examining her.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, afraid that the answer wouldn't be the one he hoped for.

"I do" she assured him; they started to walk toward Kai and Ray's room where a third bed had been placed.

"I just wanted to make sure that you realised how hard this could be. I don't want you making a promise that you can't keep." She explained simply.

"I'll keep this promise," he said firmly, his crimson eyes burning with sincerity.

'I'll make sure I do' he thought as he opened the door to his and Ray's bedroom. Failure wasn't an option.

* * *

Kenny got up for a drink of water. He was the only one with a bedroom of his own, so he didn't have to worry as much about waking anyone. He probably wouldn't have minded sharing his room with Rage, but Kai had insisted that she stay close to him. Kai was acting really weird about that.

Then again, judging by both their injuries. Both of them had had a lot to be protected from; Kenny could hardly believe what he had seen in that check up room. He'd never even imagined that anyone could possess that many scars. He'd known Kai for around two years, and he'd never even guessed that he'd been hiding something like this.

And how he'd got those scars in the first place. Kenny didn't even want to think about that. And Kai's face when Kenny had poked his head out of his door to see what all the noise had been about. It had been like they were facing the end of the world and Kai didn't think that they'd live through what was coming. He shuddered, wondering what other secrets the cold teen could be hiding from them.

He drank deeply from his glass of water before placing the empty container in the bin.

Kenny cast a glance at the window on his way back to his room. He paused, shock over writing his features as he stepped closer to get a better look.

It wasn't the view that intrigued him. It was the windowsill, his mouth opened wide as he processed what he was seeing.

There was no windowsill.

Where it had been, there only a few remaining pieces of charred wood, jutting out from beneath the window. Finely powered ash littered the floor directly under the window. Along with splinters of burned wood. Even the window had cracked as if exposed to a great heat.

The windowsill had been completely burned away.

* * *

Ok, what do you think? I'm tempted not to update this until i have at least 8 reviews, you know, eight chapters eight reviews.

Anyhow, for this chapter you have to remember that although Rage and Kai have hugged before. Kai has never in this story so far hugged her, she has always hugged him.

I've also mentioned the promise again. Are you wondering what that promise was yet?

Please review.


	9. Nightmares

Disclaimer: i don't own beyblade, but i do own the plot in this fic and any OC's that you see in it.

* * *

Kai sat in the darkness. His blankets were pooled around his waist as he stared into space. He was shivering. He'd just woken up and his mind was still groggy.

He was still staring at the blood.

The crimson blood on the snow, it gleamed wetly at him. As if to tell him that it wasn't all right.

He'd killed her.

He'd caused her to be shot. He'd told her to keep on running. He'd thought that maybe, just maybe she might make it. That would make everything all right if she made it. She would be able to help the others, and her father…he wouldn't be able to hurt her anymore. He wouldn't be able to hurt any of them anymore.

But it wasn't all right. She was dead; nothing would ever be all right again.

She hadn't made it. It wasn't fair. He'd just wanted all the hurt to stop, that had been all. That had been their mission.

They'd failed.

"Kai…look at me Kai" the words came from very far away. He blinked, finally seeing the blue green eyes that were staring at him. The events of the past day came rushing back to him as he recognised the face that was looking at him worriedly.

Still only half awake, he flung his arms around her form. To reassure himself of her realness, and because he was still afraid. Tears burned at the corners of his eyes as the memories clamoured up inside of him.

Rage knelt on the bed, biting her lip against the pain as Kai's grip caused her ribs to ache and her back to sting. In so many ways he was still so much like a child she mused as she rubbed his back reassuringly. In so many ways he was still so innocent, whereas in others his innocence had been irreparably ruined. Mostly though, he was just scared as he had a right to be. As both of them had a right to be…after all that had happened to them.

"Pl…please…please don't die" Kai choked, unintentionally digging his fingers into the back of her orange nightshirt in his desperation not to be separated from her again. He sounded like a terrified child instead of a cold fifteen year old. How his new friends could ever mistake his fear of people and expressing emotions for coldness and indifference was beyond her. But then again, she had known him much longer than they had. And they were learning, they would have to change their views now that they knew about his scars.

"Please don't…don't leave" Kai whispered, suddenly sounding small and scared. He felt helpless, like a child. He didn't want her to go away again. He didn't want her to get hurt again. And…he didn't want her to leave him again…to leave him alone. Like before.

He was shivering, with his fiery eyes shut tight against the nightmares that threatened to enter his head. Memories just do not let go, no matter how much you try to run from them…no matter how much you try to forget.

Rage leaned her chin forward to rest gently on his shoulder. She stroked his smooth navy hair soothingly. Her eyes glinted knowingly as she stared absentmindedly into the darkness that surrounded them. She knew what he was going through, that was part of the reason why he trusted her so much. Why he allowed her to see him in such a weak state, because she had seen him in much worse states before.

"I'm right here Kai, and I'm not going anywhere," she said reassuringly. "And I don't plan on dying anytime soon, that I promise you."

Her aqua eyes glowed with conviction as she rhythmically brushed her fingers through his hair. She half closed her eyes calmly as she began softly humming a lullaby. As soon as the first haunting notes reached his ears, she felt him still. Comforted by the familiarity of the tune.

She had used this tune so many times to comfort both him and herself, that she knew it instinctively. Sometimes when she was worried she would even start humming it to herself without realising what she was doing. It was second nature to her. It was special to her.

As she felt him begin to relax, she allowed her eyes to close. To picture the words to the tune she was humming in her mind.

_'Hush little baby, don't say a word'_

When she had been very young, her mother had always used this lullaby to sing her to sleep. Always this lullaby, no other. That was the reason she remembered it so well.

_'Mama's gonna buy you a mocking bird'_

She remembered only a few little things about her mother. This had been one.

'_And if that mocking bird won't sing'_

She couldn't really remember what her mother had looked like. When she tried really hard to remember, she could only see a blur where her mother's face should be.

'_Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring'_  
She remembered that her mother had always smelt of baked cakes, and sweet things. 'And if that diamond ring turns brass' 

When she had arrived at the abbey. She could think of no way to comfort the children there who were so sad.

_'Mama gonna buy you a looking glass'_

So she had simply used the only thing she knew comforted her when she was sad.

_'And if that looking glass gets broke'_

She'd used her lullaby.

_'Mama's gonna buy you a billy goat'_

And it had worked.

_'And if that billy goat won't pull'_

Thinking of her mother made her feel scared as well as comforted.

_'Mama's gonna buy you a cart and bull'_

Maybe it had something to do with how she had disappeared.

_'And if that cart and bull falls down'_

Her father had said that one day she had just upped up and abandoned them. Walked out on them. Rage wasn't too sure.

_'You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town'_

But she didn't like to think about it. It hurt too much, and there were other things to occupy her attention.

The smallest smile pricked at her lips as she realised that Kai was very soundly asleep on her shoulder. She eased him down to a lying position gently, knowing how easy it was to wake him. She very carefully pulled the blankets over his slumbering form.

For a minute she allowed herself to watch his sleeping form. His breathing was so quiet that Rage could only reassure herself of his being alive by the gentle rising and falling of his chest. They were more like soldiers, really than kids. Their training had certainly never given them any lenience for their youth.

They were suffering for that now. Rage could not imagine the scaring affects of their childhood years ever fading away. But maybe now that they were together again, she could learn to cope with her problems. And she could help Kai to cope with his.

_As long as Bathos doesn't have his way _Rage thought, her hands starting to tremble.

She clambered back into her bed, snuggling into the blankets for comfort. The bed had been placed between both Kai's and Ray's beds. Probably to protect her if something bad happened, like Bathos trying to sneak in or something. It made her feel a little safer with this arrangement, Ray seemed a nice guy. He just seemed like one of those people you knew that you could trust.

Trust was a big issue to both her and Kai. There had been a lot of people in both their lives who they had thought that they could trust and they'd been proved wrong. She was a much slower learner in that department than Kai though. As a small child Kai had quickly learnt that people could hurt him if he put faith in them.

Adults were mostly the problem, but other kids could betray trust as well. With the exception of a few select individuals, which included her. The young Kai had trusted no one, and would go to great lengths to distance himself from them. Because if he had gotten close, it would hurt that much more when he was betrayed.

Rage had taken longer to learn that lesson. Because of the hurt caused from that, she was much more wary when it came to people. But she had also learnt to trust Kai's judgement of people. If Kai trusted someone, then there was no doubt that they were trustworthy. He was a very suspicious guy when it came to friendship and trust.

Which meant that his team…his friends could be trusted. She just hoped that they wouldn't stop being his friends when they knew more about where he had come from. About his past. Not that she thought that they would…but she wasn't the best judge of character. And some of the things that they'd been through weren't easy to hear about.

Then again…they were even harder to talk about.

"Did he used to do that a lot…when he was little I mean?"

The sudden voice made her turn her head sharply to the left to identify the speaker. She met Ray's amber gaze curiously, surprised that he was awake.

She snuggled back into the blankets, a thoughtful look on her face before answering.

"Me and Kai could practically run our whole nightmare club." She said cryptically, her eyes averted from his self-consciously. "If you're big on sleep then you're gonna have problems."

"I don't need too much sleep anyway," Ray said, giving her a reassuring smile even though it was too dark for her to see it. "I don't think that I'll mind too much, besides I've been rooming with Kai for years now…."

"But…" he added, his expression darkening and his voice becoming grim. "I've never seen him as bad as recently. He never really had any nightmares before we came back to Russia for this tournament. But now…" Ray's words trailed off, fading into the blackness surrounding them.

"I may be to blame for that" Rage stated, her voice tinged slightly with guilt.

"That can't be true" Ray said, confusion in his voice. "You only met him again yesterday, so how could you?"

"Its kind of hard to explain" Rage confessed, turning gently in the bed till she was staring at the ceiling. She crossed her arms loosely over the top of her blankets, her eyes unfocused as her mind drifted among unpleasant memories.

"Me and Kai have been friends for ages, we grew up together. That kind of thing forms a bond that can't be broken, even after long amounts of time. Since we both are close to our bit beasts, Tasmine and Dranzer formed a close bond too. The fact that both are of the fire element may have made this stronger, I'm not really too sure how it works. But if I am nearby then Dranzer becomes able to sense Tasmine and vice versa. My guess is that Dranzer's faint sensing of Tasmine and me echoed in Kai's subconscious as nightmares."

For a moment, both of them just lay in their beds. Silent as this new information was processed.

"You two must have gone through a lot together to form a bond as strong as that" Ray whispered quietly into the darkness.

Rage nodded to herself, the darkness cloaking the fear and pure terror shimmering in her eyes as she thought back. As she remembered. As she remembered what had happened to them.

"Too much" she murmured under her breath. Squeezing her shining aqua eyes shut in an effort to block out the memories.

'Stop it! You're killing him!' 

'_Leave her alone!'_

'_Go away, go away.'_

'_If you cry then he'll be sure to kill you'_

Kids weren't supposed to have to deal with that stuff. No one was supposed to deal with that sort of stuff. But Rage had a feeling that Kai was haunted by his memories too. Which meant that Rage had to at least try and keep it together…for his sake.

* * *

The next morning was strangely sunny. A harsh brightness that hid the bitter cold of the outside air. Kai, without so much as mentioning the events of last night roused the team for a mornings worth of training. Rage was already up, but didn't speak of the previous night either. Which advised Ray to keep his mouth shut about Kai's nightmare as well.

Although he did pass on Rage's theory about the bond between the two fire bit beasts over breakfast with the team. Kai actually joined them at the table, and didn't seem too bothered about the conversation. Merely glancing at Rage; who replied with a simple shrug that seemed to satisfy the slate haired teen.

After Rage had finally convinced Kai to eat a piece of toast. A hard task to do seeing as none of them had ever really witnessed Kai have breakfast before. Kai lead them to the training room and set up tasks for all of them to work on.

Well…almost all of them.

"Kai I'm bored!" Rage moaned from her spot sat crossed legged on the floor.

"I wanna blade please?" she pouted, her entire body language screaming 'fed up'.

Kai sighed, raking a hand exasperatedly through his hair. He had known that it wouldn't be easy to get Rage to just watch for once, but this was ridiculous.

"Look Rage, I've already told you. You are too wounded to blade; as soon as you get better then you can join in. But not now, alright?"

It was obvious that Rage wasn't satisfied with that explanation. As she held his determined glare with her sulky one. Secretly he was rather pleased that her immaturity had not been completely stomped out by the abbey training. But that did not stop her from being just slightly annoying.

He went back to witnessing the battle between Tyson and Max before…

"Kai…please can I blade? I'll be really, really careful. Honest."

Kai's eye started to twitch.

"Back in a minute Kai" Ray called out suddenly, pausing in his solo blading to run from the room.

Tyson and Max's battle ended in a draw; Kai was just giving them some advice on how to improve before Ray came rushing back through the door. A book clasped in his hands. He knelt down next to the sulking Rage, who immediately brightened up. Curious as to what he was offering to her.

"It's the first book of the film you liked so much yesterday" Ray explained with an encouraging smile for her to take it.

"Harry potter and the philosopher's stone" she read out from the cover; her boredom immediately disappeared at the new treasure that she took gently into her hands. She gazed at it in awe; she'd never been allowed to read a book for 'fun' before. Not since she'd been a little baby anyway, when her mother had read to her.

"I figured that it might give you something to do" Ray said, pleased as Rage solemnly opened the smooth covered book to the first page.

He backed away to the training dish; watching with a smile as she absorbed the writing. Obviously in a state of complete awe at the brand new object that she could learn about. For the first time since the training had begun, she was silent.

Kai shot Ray a grateful glance; one so quick and lacking of emotions that only by being around Kai for the last few years did Ray know that the team captain was actually offering a thank you. If a quite foreign and hidden one. Then it was gone, leaving Ray to wonder if he'd just imagined it.

"Ray" Kai said sternly, locking the blader in his commanding gaze. "I want you to battle against Tyson next."

"Max" he said turning to address the blonde blader, "You can sit this one out."

Max's baby blue eyes widened with surprise. Usually he would have been told to do some solo blading on his own. Kai had never given them extra time off before. He'd really better move quickly before he suddenly changed his mind.

"Sure Kai" he garbled, rushing to claim a spot next to Rage. He'd warmed up quickly to the dark haired girl. She was a good person, and needed support right now. Plus she, unlike Kai was more likely to welcome his company.

'Especially if he brought sweets' he thought as he placed an open bag of sherbet candies between them. She responded by moving the book slightly so that he could read the page as well, popping a candy casually into her mouth in the process.

Not that he was going to give up on Kai of course. No matter how much Kai pushed away from them, Max would always stand by him; in case he decided he needed a friend after all. He'd made that silent promise to himself as soon as he had laid eyes on those scars in the hospital.

"Page" she announced, moving to turn it onto the next page.

"Wait!" he protested, "I'm not finished yet!"

She looked ready to argue before Max cleverly offered her the bag of sweets. She took a handful and waited most patiently for him to finish the page.

It went on like that peacefully…until at exactly nine o'clock; there was a knock at the door. Rage looked up from the book fearfully, the police were here. And she would have to reveal some secrets…

* * *

Whats your opinion of this chapter? 


	10. Past losses

Disclaimer: I don't own beyblade but i do own this plot and any OCs that you see on here. Including Rage and Bathos...

* * *

Rage fidgeted on her seat on the couch, growing frustrated as the police officer took a sip of his tea. There were two police officers, a man and woman. They both seemed kind enough… 

"So Rage…" the woman began, the smile on her face seemed warm and friendly.

"How old are you exactly?" the woman held a notepad and pen expectantly, clearly thinking to write down the basic details first…

The simple ness of the question momentarily comforted Rage.

"I'm fourteen years and I guess about nine months old," she answered simply.

"And how long has your father been abusing you?"

The question made her tense, even though she'd knew that a question like that would be asked eventually. The feeling of a hand over hers made her look up confused. Before she remembered that Kai was sitting next to her, she'd asked that he be allowed to remain in the room for emotional support. Mr Dickinson had remained as well, to act in the role of her temporary guardian to insure that her rights were taken into account.

"I guess since I was about four or five, after my mother left."

The rest of the team were supposed to be blading in the training room. But the absence of any sound of whirling of blades made her wonder if they were listening in. It wouldn't really matter if they were, after all if they couldn't stand hearing about this stuff then they'd never be able to accept what happened at the abbey to both Kai and her…especially Kai…

After all…it was Kai who was their friend. It was Kai's past that they would have to accept in order to remain friends with him. The slate haired teen probably would never admit it…but he needed friends like them. He would need friends to be able to get through what they both knew was coming…and Rage much doubted that just her own friendship would be enough…

"I know this is hard for you…but could you tell us what sort of things he used to do to you?"

"Just hitting, stabbing, whipping and stuff like that…" the dark haired girl stared at her shoes self-consciously. The trainers were scuffing up the carpet, not that she cared…it gave her something else to concentrate on…

The female police officer nodded, scribbling something down in her notebook. The guy police officer just kept on drinking his tea…

They'd introduced themselves as officers Miss O'Brian and Mr Tonkov when they'd first walked in. But Rage had never really been much good at seeing past uniforms…so even though she personally didn't have many grudges against police officers, it was still difficult to see them as people…

"So you feel that it is a threat to you're health to remain under the guardianship of this…Bathos Schild any longer?" The man spoke up for the first time since introducing himself at the beginning…

"Well…duh…" the teenager said, rolling her aqua eyes.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'" Mr Tonkov said writing in his notebook. He had a friendly face…although he didn't seem as nice as the lady.

"Do you understand that we might have to place you with social services while the charges are being processed?" The man asked…he seemed like he was trying to be nice. But the mere suggestion of such an act caused both teens to mistrust him even more than their usual prejudges against police officers.

"No!" Rage declared firmly before the boy sitting beside her could also retaliate. "I want to stay with Kai."

"I'm not sure if that will be possible because of your ages. You have to be placed under a responsible guardian to make sure that your safety is maintained." Miss O'Brian spoke apologetically. Nervously brushing a stray lock of her long brown hair safely behind her ear as she stared at the obviously none too happy teenagers.

"Excuse me…but I wouldn't mind looking after Rage." Mr Dickinson cut in before Kai said something that from the looks of how angry he was…wouldn't go down well with the officers. "I definitely sure that I'm old enough" he added with a smile.

"I'm not sure" the woman police officer debated. "There's a lot of paper work for something like this…I think that it would take too long. You have to be checked out and there are lots of procedures that we have to do. It could take weeks and she needs a place to stay now"

"How come she can't stay here then?" Kai growled…the deep scowl on his face showing his hostility of the situation. "She's been staying here since yesterday and there was no problem with it then."

"Yes, but that was only a temporary arrangement-" Tonkov's argument was cut off by a sudden outburst from Mr Dickinson.

"I've got it!" The older man voiced unexpectedly. "If I enrol Rage as part of the blade breakers. Then I automatically receive temporary guardianship over her. She could stay with Kai and the team…and I'm sure that I could fulfil the requirements of the guardian."

Tonkov looked ready to disagree before Miss O'Brian broke in abruptly. She had a warm smile on her face that made Rage consider that maybe…even with the uniform…she might perhaps be human. Maybe…

"I think that's a great idea" the female officer agreed "We'll help of course…you'll have to notify us as to the locations that you are planning to stay at and go. So that we can make sure that we can contact you easily and that Rage is kept protected. It should be safe once we arrest Mr Schild…but until then you'll have to keep her presence on the team quiet. We've already tracked down the building that he was renting and police officers we sent there with an arrest warrant last night. He wasn't there…but we're hopeful that he's still in the area. His belongings were at the house and police are searching for him as we speak."

"We're confident that we can find him…and given the medical records from the hospital and the witnesses we've got a solid case to keep him." Tonkov added…seeming slightly fed up at his partner. "As well as you two and your friends…the three unconscious men found at the scene of the incident were more than happy to cooperate in return for a slightly harsher sentence. As soon as we catch him he'll be going away for a long time."

Kai looked bored as he sat with his arms crossed and his eyes fixed untrustingly on the two officers. Rage was staring at her shoes again…scraping them against the carpet absentmindedly. Her shoulders were tense…showing her unease at the situation. She was trying to get her thoughts together…so she'd finally be free of him…really?

Bathos would be gone…truly? It didn't seem real somehow…it was odd to think that after all these years…all her life. Finally she would be free of him…

Something would go wrong…she knew it. Something would go bad…everything always went bad. It was just life…in her life…everything always went wrong…

"I think that's all" Miss O'Brian smiled…tucking away her notebook. "There will be a person coming later on to interview you further Rage. In a couple of days time I think…I understand that you might not be in the country at the time. But I'm sure that we can sort it out."

"Thanks for the tea" Tonkov said politely as they both exited. The door closed quietly behind them.

Rage let out a relived sigh and leaned back leisurely on the sofa. Suddenly her half closed eyes widened as she realised something.

"Hey" she said happily to Kai. "This means that I'm a blade breaker…doesn't it!" The smile on her face seemed to make her whole face light up.

"Yep" he answered simply…no emotion present in his voice. "And it also means that I'm your captain."

Rage blinked slightly…the smile slipping from her face.

"Damn…you just had to ruin it didn't you" she growled…crossing her arms in front of her in a traditional sulky pose.

This performance earned her a nudge from her new captain. Which only made her sink deeper into her sulk.

"Now, now children" Mr Dickinson chastened…causing a very real frown to appear on Kai's face at being called a child.

"I have something else to discuss with you. Mostly regarding you Kai…"

Kai's frown deepened. This had better not be about his scars…he'd been avoiding the subject for a long time. He didn't want to have to explain how he'd got them…

"Its about Voltaire and Boris Balkov…"

Kai's hands transformed into fists…this was bad. This was going to be bad.

"They're appealing against their charge. They've already spent two years in prison. I've looked at the evidence…and I think that they could make it. A great many of the witnesses from their last trial have disappeared…and everyone that I can find that at some point attended the abbey refuses to get involved. We never had that much physical evidence to begin with…so now…"

"I'm not testifying!" Kai broke in suddenly…his fingers were digging tightly into his palms. He'd never managed to talk about what had happened at the abbey even to his team members. There was no way that he was going to tell total strangers about what had happened there.

He closed his eyes in frustration for a moment. Seeing the blood…the bright fresh blood gleaming on the snow behind his closed lids. He heard the screams…the children screaming for the mercy that they would never get.

"Kai…if no one testifies against them. They will go free…do you understand that?"

The teenager blinked…trying to chase the images out of his mind. He didn't want that…he didn't want them to go free. But he couldn't testify…

"Here…" he said quietly…holding out to Mr Dickinson the five discs that he had been keeping.

"There's more than enough evidence on them to incriminate Bathos, Boris and Voltaire. That should keep them behind bars…" Truthfully Kai hadn't wanted to give anybody those discs. The stuff that was on them…some of it he didn't want anybody to know about. But surely it would be better than letting them go free…

"Kai…this is extraordinary. Where did you get them?" Mr Dickinson seemed flustered as he carefully stored the discs away in a pocket.

"I'd rather not say" Kai said…his voice not giving away anything. He had felt Rage tense beside him…and he didn't want to get her involved in this if she didn't want to be. She'd dragged up enough of her past already…

"Alright Kai…" Mr Dickinson said kindly. "I have some work to take care of in preparation for the final match this afternoon. Unless you have something you want to talk to me about?"

"Why would I?" Kai scowled defensively…sarcasm appearing in his voice.

A sharp elbow in the ribs from Rage forced the angriness from his expression. He could feel her aqua eyes boring a hole in the side of his head…

He gave in…meeting Mr Dickinson's eyes hesitantly. He felt like biting his lip…so he dug his fingers into the palms of his hands instead. It was less obvious…so hopefully it wouldn't show so much how worried he was.

"Yes Kai?" The man asked…his eyes were twinkling with amusement at their behaviour. Yet…he seemed concerned at the same time…

"I…I was wondering if you would have to look at the discs…" Kai shifted uncomfortably…he was unused to asking questions that were that delicate to him. The question meant something to him…something important. Lately his emotions had become less easy to hide…maybe it was because of the lack of sleep that he was getting. Or maybe it was just because of his past being brought up…his past wouldn't leave him alone.

"Do you want me to Kai?" The elderly man questioned reasonably. He was curious now…there would have to be something pretty sensitive on those discs to get Kai acting as uneasy as he was.

"No" the teenager confessed after a pause. He was avoiding the adult's gaze.

"I really don't want anyone to look at what's on there…but…I guess that someone has to…right?"

"Right" Mr Dickinson said…trying to sound reassuring. "Don't worry about it Kai…you're too young to be worrying about things like this. Let us grown ups worry for a while…you just concentrate on enjoying yourself. I'll see you this afternoon…ok?"

At the boy's nod Mr Dickinson walked away. The old man was now the guardian of two children from the abbey. Although he had temporary guardianship of Tyson, Kenny, Ray and Max while they were competing at the tournaments. He had already been granted guardianship of Kai when his grandfather had been placed in jail.

It was funny to think that only a few days ago…Mr Dickinson had been considering adopting Kai. Maybe if he could somehow convince the stubborn boy…then he'd actually agree to spend some time together. Instead of going off to boarding school…although that hadn't lasted long.

And it had mostly been Voltaire's choice…as there had been an odd custody trial at the time. Whether Voltaire could choose a guardian for Kai or not while he was in jail…and how much control he still had over the boy. Even with the expensive lawyers Voltaire's claim over Kai had been diminished. And Mr Dickinson had been appointed guardianship.

Not that that had changed much. Kai had given up on boarding school and just took to wandering around a lot. He had never even entered the house that Mr Dickinson owned in Japan. So he didn't know for instance that he had set aside a room for Kai when he'd become his guardian. He didn't know that it was right now painted and furnished…just on the off chance that Kai might someday take up his offer on a place to stay.

-----

* * *

Kai stared at the closed door silently…musing as he stared half-heartedly at his hands in his lap. Nail marks stood out clearly on the pale flesh. It had actually hurt when he'd had to unclench his fists…he guessed he'd been digging his nails in harder than he had thought. 

"He's going to hate me if he sees…" Kai said quietly to the empty space in front of him. Thinking of what was on the discs. "They're all going to hate me…"

It was said so softly that even the blade breakers huddled…listening by the door couldn't hear. Ray opened the door slowly…peering around carefully before spotting that only Kai and Rage were left in the room. He…unlike a couple of his more curious friends had actually been training and not listening at the door.

"Hey Kai" he said after smiling a greeting at the girl sat beside his slate haired friend. "Since you seem to be doing nothing…its explanation time…"

"You promised" the golden eyed teen reminded firmly as it looked like Kai was about to refuse.

"I…" Kai started…unable to think of a suitable excuse or sarcastic comment.

"What do you want to know?" he sighed…defeated…he would have to explain eventually anyway. And…it just felt too wrong to go back on a promise. Although it felt wrong as well to be giving in to them…to be explaining his past…

"The scars" Tyson ordered as he entered the room with the others. "How did you get them?"

Kai took a deep breath…concentrating on schooling his face until not one emotion was betrayed. They were all staring at him expectantly with wide eyes…if they had popcorn then they could have been watching a movie.

"They're from the abbey" he stated evenly…trying hard to sound like it didn't bother him. That it didn't matter…

"But how come?" Max questioned…confusion showing clearly in his expression. "I mean did someone beat you up or something. Why would anybody do that do that to you…you must have been a little kid at the time…"

"I don't know" he didn't allow a trace of emotion to mix in with his words. "I don't know why they did it…maybe it was because I wasn't perfect for their plans. So they tried to beat the perfection into me."

Max blinked…listening to Kai's tone of voice. He might as well have been discussing the weather or theories as to why a new beyblade strategy hadn't worked out.

"It was Boris…wasn't it?"

Kai turned to fix Tyson in his strangely placid stare. He nodded once…not trusting himself to speak. Something glimmered deep behind his eyes…some stray emotion that he hadn't managed to fully extinguish.

"It doesn't matter," he said suddenly in answer to their pitying gazes. The stray emotion finally buried so that they couldn't see it. "It happened a long time ago and what's past is past. Its best to just accept it and move on."

The phrase somehow seemed strangely familiar to the team. It was Ray who remembered it.

"Hey that's what Boris said when we first visited the abbey. I remembered it cause I always thought that it was a weird thing to say in that situation."

Kai lowered his head slightly…the haunted look on his face reflected on Rage's. Both were thinking of the same things…their past's in the abbey. The blood and the screams…and fear…fighting to survive…

"If there are no more questions then we still have some training to do." He said it as firmly as he could. Hoping that they couldn't hear the anxiety in his voice. He didn't want to talk anymore about his past…he didn't want to drag it all up. He didn't want them to know.

"I have a question."

Damn…

Kai glared at the chief…wondering if he could perhaps scare him somehow into not asking. Only Kenny was currently preoccupied with his laptop and so the team captain's desire for no more questions went unnoticed.

Just his luck…it better not be anything that he didn't want to answer.

"I don't know if anyone noticed…but the window sill was burnt sometime last night."

They looked from the picture of a burnt windowsill on the computer screen to the actual thing across the room. Every single one of them had walked past it today…yet it was only Rage and Kai who didn't seem surprised by the picture. It's amazing what you can miss if you didn't pay attention to it. And no one had exactly examined the windowsill today…they had barely glanced at it.

"Now from what I can tell it would have to be something of great heat to do something like this. Since you two were the last ones seen in that area…I was wondering if you knew how it happened?"

"Um…" Rage murmured looking sheepish. "Guess I'm busted, right?"

Seeing the confused faces she tilted her head at them…giving them a lopsided grin that seemed both humorous and guilty at the same time.

"I suppose you're wondering how I did that, huh?"

Persuaded by the nods she received…she continued…

"Its kinda hard to explain. Stuff like that tends to happen when I get upset…when I get angry. It's why my nickname is Rage…cause when I get angry I lose control…and it happens…"

Carefully she lifted her arm up in front of her…so that the palm of her hand was facing the ceiling. She concentrated…her blue green eyes narrowing as she and the others stared at her hand. For a moment nothing seemed to happen…then under their stares gleaming red flames seemed to appear from her palm.

At first it was only a few wisping trails of flame…reaching hopelessly for the ceiling. Then there was a whole handful of fire…licking greedily at the air surrounding it. The glaring red fire reflected on the girl's pale face giving her a magical quality. Before…with a hint of regret the dark haired girl closed her fist around the flames. When her hand reopened it was empty…

"I haven't been able to do that for a while" she sighed…filling the silence that reigned after that strange sight.

"When I was taken to the hospital the drug that Bathos gave me was drained out of my system. That drug was used to _control_ this…in other words to make sure that I couldn't use it to harm them."

"But…how" Kenny spluttered… "How is that even possible?"

"Its not as odd as you think." Kai protested on Rage's behalf. "You've all seen odd things happen when beybattling right? Even to the blader…water appearing from no where in Max's battles, fire in mine…"

"Well" Kai continued once they'd agreed with his statement. "When a bit beast and their blader have a close enough bond, have spent enough time together and reach a certain level in training. Aspects from each of them start to pass over and merge. Even with us it's already started…when you were first introduced to your bit beasts you wouldn't have been able to do half the things that you can do now. As time passes and you learn more as long as you maintain a close bond with your bit beast some of the stuff you find you can do in battle you start to be able to do in real life. In around ten years time…if I keep training hard and learning more I'll be able to do the stuff that Rage can do with fire and maybe more…"

"I'd say five years" Rage smiled…

"Then we'd be able to do neat stuff like that?" Tyson exclaimed.

"That'll be so cool" Max grinned…clearly picturing himself in the future. "I'm going to train and train and train!"

"Yeah…it'll be like having superpowers." Ray agreed… "How come I've never heard of that happening to anyone?"

"Most people either don't train long or hard enough or either don't have a strong enough bond with their bit beat. It has happened before…but so long ago that it was just put down to being magic. Not many people know that it can happen and so give up before it has time enough to develop. After all you don't see a lot of adults blading, do you…" Kai said stoically.

"Then how come Rage has the abilities?" Max questioned…looking puzzled again. "She's not a adult…"

"I'm a special case," Rage explained. "When I was born…" she sounded sad…her eyes clouding slightly as if remembering something long lost.

"Tasmine was born on exactly the same date and time as me…down to the last second. Her mother was my mother's bit beast…so Tasmine and me grew up together. The name 'Tasmine' means twin…and that's what we basically are…twins. It was also a special night when she and I were born…I'm not sure how exactly, but its made our bond stronger. Both because of the time we were born and the fact that we were born at the same time. I've had these abilities for years now…they've just been getting stronger. My abilities might also have something to do with my genetics. On my mother's side were a great many mediums and people close to spirits. Since bit beasts are types of spirits this might have enhanced my ability to develop her skills."

"That's amazing" Kenny breathed…this was something pretty big for the chief…expert in beyblading not to have come across before. Quite frankly he was awestruck.

"Wait" Ray ordered as it seemed like Kai was about to get up off the couch…presumably to continue his training. The teenager paused eyeing the neko jin questioningly.

"I have another question…the last one I promise…for now at least." Ray added the last parts in response to the scowl that had appeared on Kai's features.

Grudgingly Kai sat back down…definitely not looking happy about it.

"In the check up room you said that you didn't want to break your promise again. What was that about?"

Kai crossed his arms over his chest…lowering his head slightly so that grey bangs fell to cover his eyes. He had promised that he would explain…that he would answer their questions. Ray didn't know that by asking that particular question he had just made things a hundred times worse for his team captain.

"At the abbey I formed a group" Kai's voice sounded husky as if he was having to fight to keep the emotion out.

"At first there was only me, Rage, Tala and unofficially Tala's brother Toni. Then a couple of months later a boy called Jamie joined…by the time I was seven there were seven of us. The two new ones were Leon and a little boy called Casey. I promised that I'd do my best to look after them…keep them safe and…alive…" Kai trailed off…he didn't want to be telling them this. It was his fault…one of the worst things he had ever done. It was his fault…all his fault that they were…

"Kai what happened to them?" Ray asked firmly…his amber eyes widened as Kai stood up quickly from the couch.

"Kai?" He asked…the worry present in his voice as without meeting any of their eyes. Their team captain promptly marched into the training room…slamming the door shut behind him.

"He needs some time alone," Rage declared…stopping the teenagers from going after him.

"Rage?" Max asked…his bright blue eyes wide. "What happened to the group…the people that Kai was talking about?"

"I think that Jamie is still alive somewhere" Rage answered quietly… "And you know that Tala, Kai and me are alive…but the others…Casey, Leon and Toni…they died in the abbey…"

They looked at her in shock…from eyes that had never seen as much death as her. Or as much death as Kai had seen…

--

* * *

Their team captain was stood before the beyblade dish…Dranzer aimed perfectly at it. Everything in his stance was perfect…there wasn't a single flaw that could be pointed out. Or taken advantage of… 

He was whispering…his entire body as still as a statue…with the sole exception of his lips. They were forming words that he hadn't said for a long time…not since the abbey. Usually he fought them…would not allow them to leave his mind…trapping them behind his lips. But now…they were free…he was too tired to fight them any more.

"Victory is life, defeat our enemies"

Deep in his mind a voice answered the chant…ringing out clear in his mind as if he were still there…at the abbey.

"**Again!" **

"Victory is life, defeat our enemies" The words were etched in his very core…repeated so many times. Again and again…until to forget them was a near impossible act.

"**Again!"**

"Victory is life, defeat our enemies" he wasn't the only one chanting it…there were a room full of people…children. Their voices echoed in the room…they'd be chanting it till their voices were horse from the effort. Then the real training would begin…it was the same…day in day out.

"**Again!"**

"Victory is life, defeat our enemies" Tala was to Kai's right…chanting…everyone was chanting. To stop would mean pain. Leon was standing on Kai's left…his voice shook on every word. He was new and inexperienced…strangely old to begin training now though. After all…he was seven…the same age as the chanting Kai. And Kai had been training for so long now…three years at least…although it seemed much longer.

"**Again!"**

"Victory is life, defeat our enemies" As the words flowed easily from Kai…his heart clenched in his chest. Someone had faltered…the error was heard clearly through the sea of perfectly chanting voices. It had been Leon…the fact was painted clearly on his face.

"**Who faltered…who stopped?" **the abbey guard's voice was angry as he pushed his way through the children towards Kai and Leon. As the guard's accusing eyes fell on Leon…Kai knew that the child probably wouldn't last the beating. His lifeless body would be taken to the grounds and buried under a serial number in case they had use for his remains at a later date.

"It was me" Kai said calmly…not looking at the shaking boy stood beside him. He wasn't sure why he said it…he only knew that it was the only way to keep the boy alive.

"**You?"**

"Yes me…I faltered"

**"Then you'll be made a example of in front of the others"**

"Yes sir" he answered politely…he hesitating in following the guard to the front of the class. Making sure that he wouldn't be seen as he whispered urgently in Leon's ear.

"Just look straight ahead…don't turn away or you'll be punished. Don't say a word."

**"Get up here kid or I might make the beating worse"**

The young Kai walked to the front of the class…

--------

* * *

The present Kai shook his head to get rid of the images. Taking a breath he launched Dranzer into the dish. He watched the phoenix as it spun around gracefully racing…testing it's own speed and agility. 

As his eyes fixed onto the blade he thought only one thing…

"Its my fault they died…"

* * *

So i updated...sorry for the wait. I thank you deeply for the reviews that i have received. I literally read everyone of them...about three or four times i think. I just love reviews so much...if you are also a writer you should have a fair idea of what i'm on about. So make my day and send me a review of this chapter...please? 


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